KPS Menon Chair: Present Holders

Ambassador (Retd.) Venu Rajamony is a career diplomat with thirty four years of experience and scholar of International Relations. He is Professor of Diplomatic Practice at the O.P. Jindal Global University (India’s leading private university located near New Delhi) since August 2021 and teaches International Relations and International Law. 

Ambassador Rajamony recently assumed the role of Adviser on international cooperation to the Vaidyaratnam group of institutions in Kerala, India. Vaidyaratnam is a leading provider of healthcare services and education in Ayurveda, India’s ancient system of medicine, with a multidisciplinary team of research scientists. The institution believes in a holistic, mind-body approach to patients, with diet, yoga, meditation, and related wellness practices as essential components of treatment protocols. 

Ambassador Rajamony is Senior Adviser for South Asia to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (Hd), an international NGO based in Geneva engaged in conflict prevention, mitigation and mediation. He has been working in this capacity as an interface between Indian authorities and Hd on various regional and international issues and spearheading a Track 1.5 Bay of Bengal Maritime Dialogue that seeks to bring together countries of the Bay of Bengal region and promote regional cooperation aimed at joint action to address non-traditional security concerns and environmental challenges of the region. 

Further, he is Chief Mentor, Strategic Initiatives (International) to the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences and Rajagiri Business School located in the south Indian city of Kochi, Kerala, India and Strategic Adviser to VFS Global, a outsourcing and technology service company headquartered in Zurich and Dubai which supports governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. 

Ambassador Rajamony served as Officer on Special Duty, External Cooperation (in the rank of Chief Secretary) with the state government of Kerala from 2021-2023. In this capacity, he established close links between the Kerala government and the Ministry of External Affairs, foreign missions based in India and Indian diplomatic missions abroad. In his stint of two years, he was successful in raising Kerala’s official engagement with the world to a much higher level. He played, in particular, an important role in bringing home students from war torn Ukraine, the commencement of direct flights between Kochi and Ho Chi Minh City, organising visits by a large number of Ambassadors and Consul Generals based in India to the state for structured discussions, institutionalising cooperation in the field of water management with the Netherlands, education with Finland and fisheries with Norway. He was instrumental in the conclusion of an MOU for a ‘US Space’ in Cochin University of Science and Technology, establishment of an Indo Dutch Centre of Excellence in fruits and vegetables in Wayanad, a chess tournament with Cuba etc.. He organised and was part of official visits of the Kerala Chief Minister to the U.S.A, Cuba, Norway and UK as well as visits of official delegations from the state to Finland and Vietnam.    

Rajamony was Ambassador of India to the Netherlands from 2017 to 2020. He was responsible for India’s relations with the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration and also, the Permanent Representative of India to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Ambassador Rajamony’s tenure in the Netherlands witnessed exchange of several high-level visits and many unique initiatives to enhance the profile of India, including a major international conference on Ayurveda bringing together the Ayush Minister of India with the Health Minister of the Netherlands. Ambassador Rajamony appeared on behalf of India before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the matter of “Advisory Opinion concerning the Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius.” He was Member of the Indian delegation before the ICJ in the Jadhav case (India v. Pakistan) and Co-Agent of India in Enrica Lexie case (Italy v. India) as well as member of India’s legal team before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in many other cases. Ambassador Rajamony authored two books during this tenure in the Netherlands – What We Can Learn From The Dutch – Rebuilding Kerala post 2018 Floods and  India and the Netherlands – Past, Present and Future. The latter was released by Dutch King Willem-Alexander in September 2019. The book What Can We Learn From The Dutch – Rebuilding Kerala Post 2018 Floods was released in January 2019. A Malayalam translation of the book was released by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in January 2021 in the presence of the Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. 

Ambassador Rajamony held the office of Press Secretary to Indian President Pranab Mukherjee from 2012 to 2017. He was part of President Mukherjee’s team during interaction with visiting leaders such as Emperor Akihito of Japan, President Xi Jinping of China, President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Barack Obama of the USA. He was a member of President Mukherjee’s delegation during State visits to 20 countries, including China, Russia, Israel, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. He also accompanied the President on more than 100 official tours within India.  

Rajamony served as Joint Secretary and head of Multilateral Institutions Division of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India from 2010-2012. He was responsible for formulating India’s policies towards the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.  In this capacity, he supervised external assistance to India of around $34 billion (spread over 140 projects). He was India’s Deputy to the International Development Association and member of India’s delegations to the Spring and Autumn Meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the IMF and the Development Committee of the World Bank Group as well as the Annual General Meetings of the ADB.

Rajamony’s tenure as Consul General of India in Dubai from 2007 to 2010 marked a high point in relations between India and the United Arab Emirates. He received acclaim for his efforts to advance the welfare of the over two million Indians, promote trade and investment, reach out to UAE nationals, and enhance India’s image and soft power. He capped his stint in Dubai with the publication of a coffee table book titled India and the UAE: In Celebration of a Legendary Friendship. A Malayalam version of the book was released in Kerala in 2013 and the Arabic version was published in the UAE in 2014. 

Rajamony worked as Chef de Cabinet to External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha from 2003 to 2005 and prior to that, in the Indian Missions in Hong Kong, Beijing, Geneva, and Washington, D.C. He is fluent in Chinese ( Mandarin) which he studied at the University of Hong Kong and proficient in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and French. 

He was Asia Foundation Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC for six months in 2001-2002 and authored a monograph – ‘The India-China-US Triangle: A Soft Balance of Power in the Making’ during his fellowship which was translated into Chinese and has been extensively cited in academic literature. During his stint as a fellow, he engaged extensively with the think tank community of Washington DC and delivered lectures at the CSIS; the Industrial College of Armed Forces under the National Defence University; Georgetown University; Skidmore College; McGill University: Asia Foundation, Washington DC; Center for Advanced Studies of India, University of Pennsylvania; University of Washington, Seattle; Rand Corporation, Santa Monica; University of Southern California; UCLA, East West Center, Hawaii; Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawaii, American Enterprise Institute, Washington DC etc. and addressed chapters of the American Committee on Foreign Relations in Boise, Idaho; Tucson, Arizona and Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Prior to the Foreign Service, Rajamony was Kochi Correspondent of the national daily Indian Express from 1983 to 1986. He holds an LLB degree from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala and a Masters in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was elected Vice President of the JNU Students Union in 1981-82 and Chairman of the Students Union of Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam in 1980-81.

Contact details : venurajamony@gmail.com