Background
Sharma, Kamalesh was born on September 30, 1941.
Sharma, Kamalesh was born on September 30, 1941.
Graduate, Modern School, Delhi. Graduate, St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Graduate, Cambridge University King's College, England.
Doctorate (honorary), Middlesex University, United Kingdom. Doctorate (honorary), De Montfort University, United Kingdom.
Kamalesh Sharma is an alumnus of the Modern School, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi, Saint Stephen"s College in Delhi and King"s College, Cambridge. Sharma was an officer in the Indian Foreign Service from 1965 to 2001. He served as India"s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, from August 1997 to May 2002, before his retirement from Institute for Fiscal Studies. From 2002 to 2004, he served as United Nations Secretary General"s special representative to East Timor.
He was appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Britain in 2004.
He is a Vice-President of the Royal Commonwealth Society. He has also been the Chancellor of Queen"s University Belfast since July 2009.
Sharma was elected to the position of secretary-general over Michael Frendo, foreign minister of Malta, during the biennial Commonwealth summit in Kampala, Uganda held from 22 to 24 November 2007. He took over from Sir Don McKinnon of New Zealand on 1 April 2008.
Sharma was re-elected on 30 October 2011 at the 2011 CHOGM. He was unopposed, having been proposed by India and seconded by Pakistan.
His second and final four year term began on 1 April 2012 and will end 30 March 2016. Sharma has been criticised as a "decent but ineffective" secretary-general by Hugh Segal, Canada"s former special envoy to the Commonwealth, who commented that under Sharma"s tenure, the organization has been "missing in action on Sri Lankan human rights, vicious anti-gay laws in some parts of Africa and continued weakness in the promotion of judicial independence and democracy."
On 9 July 2009 Sharma was appointed Chancellor of The Queen"s University of Belfast after the retirement of Senator George J. Mitchell. Queen"s says he was responsible for cementing relations between Northern Ireland and India which led to the country"s investment in Northern Ireland businesses.
The position is a largely honorary title and Sharma said he was enormously proud to be given the job at Queen"son
Governor Ditchley Foundation. Director International Peace Academy. Organizer South Asian Association Regional Co-operation Summit, New Delhi, 1995.
Married; 2 children.