I bow out with a Namaste to you: Akbaruddin to UN chief

India’s outgoing Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin bid adieu to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with a ‘Namaste’ in a virtual meeting.

Akbaruddin had a virtual meeting with Guterres as he prepares to return to India.

“Before I leave Secretary General, I have one last small request and that is in the Indian tradition, when we leave or when we meet, we don’t stay hello or shake hand but we say Namaste. So before I end I want to say Namaste to you and I hope if you can reciprocate,” Akbaruddin said during his video conversation with Guterres, adding that “I bow out with a Namaste to you.”

Guterres, smiling, also responds with a Namaste, saying it three times.

Akbaruddin had assumed charge as India’s envoy to the UN in November, 2015.

Seasoned diplomat T S Tirumurti, currently serving as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, was on Wednesday appointed as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

A 1985-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Tirumurti will succeed Akbaruddin, a prominent face in Indian diplomacy who is credited with successfully presenting the country''s position at the global body on a range of key issues for last several years.