Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury

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Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury assumed the responsibility of Adviser for the Foreign Ministry [1] to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh on 18 January 2007. Besides, he was also given the portfolios of the Ministries of Expatriates' Welfare and Chittagong Hill Tracts.

[edit] Background and education

Dr. Chowdhury stood First Class First in BA Honours in Political Science at the Dhaka University and also obtained an MA and Ph.D in International Relations from the Australian National University, Canberra. Earlier, he secured a High First Division in Intermediate of Arts, and a place in Matriculation Examination.

He joined the then Pakistan Superior Civil Service in 1969, moving to Bangladesh government in 1971 after the country’s independence. In his long career he held many important positions in the Commerce Ministry, Planning Commission, Shipping and Aviation Ministry and Foreign Ministry [2] of his country.

[edit] Diplomatic career

Throughout a career that spanned across a period of nearly 38 years, Dr. Chowdhury held many senior positions in the government including that of Ambassador to Qatar (1994-1996), Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva (1996-2000), and Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2001-2007). He was Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General UNCTAD [3] during 2001.He has been a Secretary to the Government. He also had concurrent accreditation to the Holy See (Vatican), Chile and Peru as Ambassador.

During his long stints in Geneva and New York, Ambassador Chowdhury has also been Vice President of the 59th UNGA, Chairman of the Second Committee [4] of the UNGA (2003-2004), Chairman of the UN Information Committee [5] (2002-2004), Chairman of the Commission for Social Development (2002-2003), Chairman of the Commission on Population and Development (2005-2006), President of the Conference on Disarmament(1999), and Vice Chairman Executive Board [6] of UNICEF (1998-1999 & 2005-2006).

He has addressed numerous seminars and workshops in various universities and think tanks around the world and has contributed articles on international relations and economic development in a number of reputed learned journals.

His contributions as a global diplomat were recognized by the New York City Council when in a Proclamation in 2003, Dr. Iftekhar Chowdhury was named "one of the world's leading diplomatic leaders". He was created a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by the Pope in the Vatican in 1999.