Md Shahidul Haque, who had been out of the foreign ministry for 11 years, was appointed the foreign secretary in-charge on Thursday, official sources said.
He replaced Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, who served as foreign secretary from July 9, 2009 to December 2, 2012 and has been appointed as Bangladesh high commissioner to UK.
Prior to his new appointment, Shahidul discharged as additional foreign secretary and as a director general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for only four months.
Earlier, he worked at Bangladesh missions in London, Bangkok and Geneva and represented Bangladesh in various international forums.
Haque, who was absent from the foreign ministry for over a decade as he had worked for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from 2001 to 2012 on lien where he occupied several senior positions in field offices and the headquarters’ in Geneva.
He quit UN job after the government found Shahidul suitable for the post and ordered him to come back to his original service. He rejoined the foreign ministry on September 2, 2012 and was given two-stage promotions to make him eligible to hold the post of foreign secretary.
As per the government rule, any official on lien or foreign posting would be eligible for promotion after their return home and joining the service.
Source: The Daily Star