Ambassador Pradeep Kumar Kapur is Visiting Clinical Professor, International Trade, Development and Security Issues at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979 and he attained the rank of Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in 2013. Described as a "luminary" diplomat, he was first in his batch to be appointed as ambassador in the year 2000. He served first as India’s ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia and later as ambassador to the Republic of Chile.