Government, through a circular issued on Tuesday, has made veteran diplomat Masud Bin Momen foreign secretary of Bangladesh.
A foreign service officer of the 1985 batch, Masud took over the charge from M Shahidul Haque.
Mr Haque, the longest-serving foreign secretary of the country who was in the helm of the affairs from 2013 to 2019, retired on Monday.
Masud Momen, who was the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, was appointed the secretary (Asia and Pacific) in the foreign office a couple of months ago, apparently to be made the foreign secretary.
A former Bangladesh ambassador to Japan and Italy, Masud Momen had also served as permanent representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) and International Fund for Agricultural Development.
An economics graduate from the Dhaka University, Masud obtained a post-graduate degree in International Relations from Tufts University in the United States. From 1998 to 2001, he was director-in-charge of the foreign ministry's United Nations wing and foreign secretary's office in Dhaka.
He served as director of poverty alleviation at the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 2001 to 2004.
After that, he worked as deputy commissioner at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, India, from 2004 to 2006.
From 2006 to 2008, he was director-general for Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for matters related to South Asia, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
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