Neelam Deo

Neelam Deo

Director, Gateway House

Neelam Deo has served as the Indian Ambassador to Denmark and Ivory Coast with concurrent accreditation to Niger, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. She has also served in the Indian embassies in Rome, Bangkok and Washington D.C., where she liaised with the U.S. Congress, the State Department, and the National Security Council on strategic issues. Her last assignment was as Consul General in New York from 2005 to 2008. During the course of her assignments in the Ministry of External Affairs, she held the position of Joint Secretary for the divisions dealing with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and the Maldives. At different times over the course of her career, she has dealt with Bhutan, South East Asia and the Pacific, as well as countries in West Asia and North Africa. She is an invited speaker on strategic issues and India-U.S. relations at numerous think tanks and universities, in India, Europe and the United States. Apart from her articles and commentaries written exclusively for Gateway House, Neelam occasionally writes for mainstream publications, and is a frequent commentator for television news channels. She has a Master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Indian Foreign Affairs Journal. She is also a member of the board of Oxfam India and is a trustee of Breakthrough (a human rights organization). She is an independent director on the boards of Mahindra CIE Automotive Limited and Mahindra Defence Systems Limited.
Expertise

Africa, Foreign Policy, India's Bilateral Relations, USA

Last modified: December 7, 2017

Recent projects

US elections Courtesy: wikimedia
5 November 2014 Gateway House

What the U.S. mid-term polls foretell

The Republicans emerged as the clear victors in the U.S. mid-term elections on November 4, taking control of both Houses of Congress. How will this outcome, which has made President Obama’s task more complicated, impact American foreign policy? What are the implications for India? Gateway House analyses the results
UN Courtesy: wikimediacommons
31 October 2014 Gateway House

Should India give up on the UNSC?

Despite staking a claim to permanent UN Security Council membership 60 years ago, India is no closer to that goal. While conflict zones remain in Africa and Asia, economic might has shifted eastwards. The West-dominated UNSC is becoming irrelevant. If India becomes a permanent member, can it influence the council’s ethos?
Tunisian Parliamentary Elections
30 October 2014

Tunisian Parliamentary Elections

Tunisian secular party Nidaa Tounes has emerged as the main winner of the parliament election. Neelam Deo, Director at Gateway House, analyses the significance of the results.

Yal Railway Line Courtesy: flickr.com/presidentrajapaksa
17 October 2014 Gateway House

India’s imperatives in Sri Lanka

India has tried to address the concerns of Sri Lankan Tamils through projects such as the recently-inaugurated railway between Jaffna and Colombo. But their aspirations for autonomy in the North and East remain unfulfilled, and New Delhi faces a dilemma—pushing Colombo on political issues can drive it closer to Beijing
Modi goes to US Courtesy: Gateway House
26 September 2014 Gateway House

A tech template for India-U.S. ties

Transforming the India-U.S. relationship requires a mutual recognition that new technologies are the most promising way to build the complementary strengths of the two countries. Both Narendra Modi and Barack Obama must now move past earlier disagreements and use tech-driven exchanges to revitalise the bilateral
livemint Courtesy:
26 September 2014

Transforming India-US relations

The newspaper Mint published an article written by Neelam Deo, Director, Gateway House, examining what steps India and the United States should take to transform the bilateral. The article was also carried online on Livemint

India Japan: defence relations
5 September 2014

India Japan: defence relations

Neelam Deo, Director, Gateway House comments on the importance of defense relations between India and Japan in their strategic partnership.

The India-Japan Nuclear Agreement
5 September 2014

The India-Japan Nuclear Agreement

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe affirmed the importance of the civil nuclear cooperation and welcomed the significant progress in negotiations on the Agreement for Coorporation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. Neelam Deo, director, Gateway House comments on the importance of this element in the bilateral.