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Govt decides to appoint Shahidul Islam ambassador to US


Published : 11 Jul 2020 10:23 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 08:46 PM

The government has decided to appoint diplomat M Shahidul Islam the Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States.

A career diplomat from Bangladesh Foreign Service 1985 batch, Shahidul is now the Secretary General of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

He was promoted to the position of Ambassador Grade-A, equivalent to secretary to the government in 2016. Before joining BIMSTEC, he served as the Ambassador to France and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to UNESCO with concurrent accreditations to Algeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Romania. Prior to that, he served as the Ambassador to South Korea. 

Shahidul began his diplomatic career as a Second Secretary in the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, India in 1992. During his term in Kolkata, he was promoted to First Secretary. He was then posted as Counsellor to the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland where he served from 1996 to 1998. 

In Geneva, Shahidul was responsible for looking after matters related to ILO, WHO and Conference on Disarmament. He also served as Alternate Permanent Delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna. 

In December 1998, he returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dhaka where he worked as the Director of Europe Division (1998-1999) and then the Director of Foreign Minister’s Office (1999-2001).

During 2001-2006 period, Shahidul was posted to Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC where he served as Counsellor (Political) and then as Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission. That time he was responsible for maintaining contact with the US State Department and Congress. 

He was closely involved in providing inputs for reports on Human Rights, Religious Freedom and Trafficking in Persons published by the US government. He was actively engaged with the activities and expansion of the Congressional Caucus on Bangladesh.

Returning to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dhaka, he served as Director General for Americas and Pacific and Counter Terrorism Wing from February 2006 to February 2008.

In February 2008, Shahidul was appointed as the Ambassador of Bangladesh to South Korea where he served until August 2012. A major highlight of his term in Seoul was the organisation of the successful official visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to South Korea in May 2010.

He actively pursued economic diplomacy during his tenure in Seoul, which resulted in resumption of recruitment of Bangladeshi workers, duty-free access for all major exportable goods from Bangladesh and a 300 percent enhancement of Korean development assistance to Bangladesh. 

He was nominated twice as the most business-friendly ambassador by the Korea Importers’ Association (KOIMA).

Shahidul was posted as the Ambassador of Bangladesh to France and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to UNESCO in August 2012. He was also the concurrently accredited Ambassador to Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Romania.

At his initiative, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) invited Bangladesh to Paris in June 2013 to engage with the governments and brands of major RMG importing countries to collectively address the situation emanating from the Rana Plaza tragedy.

Ambassador Shahidul worked under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister to publish the French version of the Unfinished Memoirs of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2017. 

The most remarkable achievement during his term as the Permanent Representative to UNESCO was the international recognition of the historic 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He initiated and spearheaded the effort to successfully inscribe the historic speech on the Memory of the World (MOW) International Register. 

As a result of his proactive diplomatic effort, UNESCO declared Jamdani (2013), Mongol Shovajatra (2016) and Sheetal Pati (2017) as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. He played a key role in obtaining UNESCO’s endorsement of the International Mother Language Institute (IMLI), Dhaka as UNESCO Category II institution.

During his term, Bangladesh was elected in some important bodies of UNESCO, including Vice-President of UNESCO General Conference, Vice-President of UNESCO Executive Board, President of UNESCO Headquarters Committee, Chairperson of the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations, and Vice-President of International Program for the Development of Communication (IPDC) of UNESCO. 

Shahidul obtained his Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Dhaka. He did his post-graduation in Diplomacy and French language from International Institute of Public Administration in Paris, France. 

He is married to Jesmeen Islam. The couple is blessed with one son and one daughter.