New Delhi | Seasoned diplomat Deepak Mittal was on Tuesday appointed as India's next ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Mittal, a 1998-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently serving as an additional secretary at the Prime Minister's Office.

"He is expected to take up the assignment shortly," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a brief note.

Mittal previously served as India's ambassador to Qatar from 2020 to 2022. During his tenure in Doha, New Delhi established the first diplomatic contact with the Taliban, weeks after it captured power in Kabul in August 2021.

Mittal also helmed the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran (PAI) desk at the MEA's headquarters in Delhi from 2018 to 2020.

His appointment comes amid a significant upswing in India's ties with the UAE after the two countries inked an ambitious comprehensive economic partnership agreement in 2022.

Following the landmark visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE in August 2015, bilateral relations between the two countries were elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.