| Dr. Dipu Moni | |
|---|---|
| Dipu Moni in 2010 | |
| Foreign Minister of Bangladesh | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 6 January 2009 |
|
| President | Iajuddin Ahmed Zillur Rahman |
| Prime Minister | Sheikh Hasina |
| Preceded by | Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Political party | Bangladesh Awami League |
| Residence | Dhaka |
| Religion | Islam |
| Website | http://www.dipumoni.com |
Dipu Moni is a Bangladeshi politician and diplomat and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2009.
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Until now the principal focus of her work has been women's rights and entitlements, health legislation, health policy and management, health financing, strategic planning, and health and human rights under the Constitution and law in Bangladesh's economic and social development programmes and foreign policy issues of the region and globally.[1] Over the past ten years Dr. Dipu Moni has represented her leader and party's position to Cabinet Ministers and public representatives of Asia, Europe and the USA, Ambassadors and Senior Representatives of International Institutions. She writes, teaches, consults, researches, conducts advocacy programmes, organizes and leads free health service clinics with a pool of qualified physicians, and promotes legislation on key issues.[2]
Moni is an avid protagonist of representative politics and women's participation in the political decision-making process. She is one of two Master Trainers for Women political Activists of the Party in which regard she has trained women political activists under a programme of her party that she helped design and implement in a close relationship with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) of the United States.[3]
Educated at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Dhaka Medical College, the country's premier Medical School, and at the University of London, Dipu Moni has undertaken specialized courses at Johns Hopkins and a course at Harvard on Negotiations and Conflict Resolution.
Moni is the daughter of the late M.A. Wadud, a close associate of Bangabandhu and H.S. Suhrawardy in the struggle for democracy and the rights of Bangalees. Mr. Wadud was a founding member of the Awami League and is known especially for his role in the Language Movement and as the first Council-elected General Secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra League. Mr. Wadud suffered imprisonment on several occasions during his political life. After the assassination of the Founder of the Nation, upon his refusal to accept a Cabinet position, he was imprisoned by the military government.[4]
Moni is married to Tawfique Nawaz, one of two Oxbridge educated Senior Advocates of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, Head of an internationally reputed law firm and a parampara (generational) exponent of at least a 2000 year old Indian Classical Musical form, namely Alaap, on the Grande Flute. They have one son, Tawquir Rashaad, 20, a law student at the University of London, a winner of the UCL Global Excellence Scholarship from the region comprising the Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East, and a daughter, Tani Deepavali Nawaz.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury |
Minister of Foreign Affairs 2009-present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |