Anwarul to become new cabinet secretary; Shafiul alternate ED at World Bank

Bridges Division Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam will become the new cabinet secretary succeeding Mohammad Shafiul Alam, who is going to be appointed the alternate executive director for Bangladesh at the World Bank Group.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal informed reporters at the Secretariat in Dhaka on Wednesday about the finalisation of the appointments.

Senior Secretary Shafiul has been holding the key post of cabinet secretary since Oct 29, 2015.

There were discussions about his succession for months as the term of his last contractual appointment is ending in a few months' time.

After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase, the finance minister told the reporters: “The cabinet secretary is going to have a bigger role to serve the country as the alternate executive director at the World Bank. Everything has been finalised.”

Kamal named Anwarul when a reporter asked who is going to succeed Shafiul.

Khandker Anwarul Islam

Alam told bdnews24.com he heard about the government decision.

He will be in the Bangladesh mission at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC, for the next three years, but the government is yet to issue the order on his appointment.

Alam said he hopes he will be joining the new office by November, pointing out that it should take around two months to take charge as the alternate executive director at the World Bank.

He will replace former cabinet secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan at the World Bank.

Shafiul was chairman of the National Housing Authority and Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation and served in many important positions over the last 30 years.

He also served as the Rajshahi divisional commissioner, the chairman of Land Appeal Board, and additional secretary to the former communications ministry.

The member of the 1982 Bangladesh Civil Service cadre has also served as deputy commissioner of Magura and Mymensingh districts.

Born in Cox’s Bazar in 1959, Shafiul completed his MA in English in 1981 from the Chittagong University and took a higher degree in development administration from the University of Birmingham.

He said he also heard that Islam was going to succeed him as cabinet secretary.

Anwarul joined the Bridges Division as acting secretary on Nov 13, 2011 and was promoted to secretary in 2013 and senior secretary in 2017.

The officer of the 1983 BCS batch had also worked at the Cabinet Division as an additional secretary.

Anwarul earned his BSS (Hons) and MSS in social welfare from Dhaka University. He also holds a post-graduate diploma in development planning

His wife Kamrun Nahar is also a secretary. She is in charge of women and children’s affairs now.