Ambassador Neelam D. Sabharwal (retd)
Active asAdvisor India and Associate Professor for the Maastricht University India Institute (MUII)
Organisation: Maastricht University, Maastricht University Office (MUO)
Postal address: P.O. box 616, 6200 Maastricht, The Netherlands
Advisor India and Associate Professor
Organisation: Maastricht University, India Institute
Bio
Mrs. Neelam D Sabharwal was Ambassador of India to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative of India to the OPCW from October 2006 to December 2008. Her other ambassadorial assignments were as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO in Paris (Feb 2000 – July 2004) and High Commissioner of India to Cyprus (Sep. 2004 – Oct 2006).
In her diplomatic career of over 34 years after joining Indian Foreign Service in 1974, Ambassador Sabharwal has handled diverse assignments in bilateral and multilateral posts covering political, economic and cultural fields. She started her career in Hong Kong and was twice posted to Beijing, the second time as Deputy Chief of Mission. Her other assignments include postings in Washington and as Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN Offices in Geneva.
In the course of her diplomatic career she represented India in many important international and U.N. conferences and participated in several multilateral negotiations on new normative instruments and standard setting in fields of human rights, humanitarian laws, climate change, cultural diversity, protection of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and prevention of the spread of chemical weapons.
Before joining the Indian Foreign Service, Mrs Sabharwal was a university lecturer in Modern History; India and China at the University of Delhi for a period of four years. She completed her post graduate studies in History, area specialisation in India and China Studies as well as Chinese Language at Miranda House, Delhi University.
Ambassador Sabharwal has been a member of the UM India Advisory Board and shared valuable comments and insights on India. Additionally she has been the Advisor India & Associate Professor to the Maastricht University India Institute (MUII), for the calendar years 2010 and 2011. In this latter position she has, among other areas, worked on developing contents materials for India, related teaching programmes for university students at Maastricht as well as the wider academic community and general public.
As Ambassador in the Netherlands and after retirement, Ambassador Sabharwal has lectured extensively on India related subjects. She has edited a book entitled, ‘India and Netherlands - Changing Images: Lasting Visions`.
Mrs. Sabharwal is married and has three children. Her husband was a senior UN civil servant and his last position was Deputy Director General, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva. After retirement from diplomatic service, she lives in New Delhi.
