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Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao today got a seven-month extension with the government deciding to have a tenure of upto two years in the key post.
The union cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved a proposal to amend the relevant rules to provide extension in service to the Foreign Secretary for such period or periods as many be considered necessary in public interest, subject to the condition that the total term in the post does not exceed two years.
Rao, who assumed charge as Foreign Secretary on August 1 last year, will remain in the post till July 31 next year. In the absence of the amendment, Rao would have retired on superannuation on December 6. The decision was taken as the government felt the assignment of Foreign Secretary has "increasingly acquired critical dimensions from national security and strategic perspective and the need to ensure continuity and swiftness in the decision-making process", an official release said.