Shahidul Haque new Foreign Secretary

Md Shahidul Haque has become Bangladesh’s new Foreign Secretary after having performed the duties in an interim capacity since January.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his promotion to the rank of Secretary took effect from Thursday, July 18.

Haque was given the interim responsibility in January after Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes moved out of the ministry to take over as High Commissioner in London.

He returned to the ministry as a Director General in August last year after being on lien for 11 years. He was later promoted to Additional Secretary.

During his extra-ordinary leave since 2001, Haque worked at the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration.

A graduate in Social Welfare from the Dhaka University, Haque got a Master's degree in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Haque has never represented Bangladesh as an ambassador or in a senior diplomatic rank, making him only the second such career foreign service officer ever after Touhid Hossain, whose most senior diplomatic post was Deputy High Commissioner, to be given the office of the Foreign Secretary.