Nikesh Mehta
Biography
In March 2024, Nikesh (Nik) Mehta was appointed as the new British High Commissioner to Singapore. He will start his posting in July 2024.
Prior to this, Nik served from 2022 to 2024 as the Director for Policy and Requirements in the UK’s National Security Community.
Nik joined the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in 2002, and has worked in Iraq, Uganda, Malaysia and South Korea. The posting to Uganda was particularly poignant for Nik because his mother, a Ugandan-Asian, was expelled from the country by Idi Amin’s forces in the early 1970s. He reported on the 20-year conflict between the Ugandan Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army, and the ensuing humanitarian crisis. Nik was the Political Counsellor in Malaysia and was responsible for the UK’s response to the two Malaysia Airlines disasters in 2014 and 2015.
Nik’s most recent role overseas was as the Deputy Ambassador at the British Embassy in South Korea from 2018 to 2022. Alongside the Ambassador, Nik was responsible for leading the embassy through the challenges of Covid and for deepening the bilateral partnership with the Korean government. During his time in South Korea, Nik brokered an agreement with the K-pop band Blackpink to work with the British government on climate action.
In the UK, Nik’s roles have primarily focused on conflict and security issues. From 2015 to 2018, Nik was a Deputy Director at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) working on international cyber-security.
Throughout his career, Nik has been a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion. He believes passionately that the Diplomatic and Intelligence Services should reflect fully the talent across UK society and that diversity is one of the UK’s great strengths. Nik has led a number of campaigns to improve the recruitment and development of staff from minority backgrounds. He is the National Security Community’s co-Champion for Race.
Nik was awarded at OBE in HM The Queen’s 2014 Birthday Honours for his contribution to British foreign policy and diversity.
Previous roles in government
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Deputy head of mission, British Embassy Seoul