Patrick Rata Photo: Supplied
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has appointed career diplomat Patrick Rata as the new high commissioner to India.
Rata will replace High Commissioner David Pine, who has been in New Delhi since 2020.
Rata is currently serving as New Zealand's acting high commissioner to Sri Lanka.
Pine, meanwhile, has been appointed as the new high commissioner to Sri Lanka.
Rata has previously served as New Zealand ambassador to the Republic of Korea, ambassador to Italy and permanent representative to Rome-based UN agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development and World Food Programme.
His other diplomatic roles have focussed on multilateral issues.
Rata was posted in New Zealand's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, where he worked on Security Council issues and was elected as vice chair of the Third Committee.
He has also worked for 10 years as a senior official at the World Trade Organisation, including as chef de cabinet in the Director-General's Office in 2002.
The diplomat has a master's in arts from the University of Auckland. His wife, Karen, is a lawyer at the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
Rata's interests include music and sport.