Tareq Md Ariful Islam, the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, has been appointed as the Permanent Representative to the UN offices in Geneva.
Andalib Elias, the Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata, has been designated as the new High Commissioner to Colombo.
The foreign ministry made the announcement on Wednesday.
Andalib Elias, a career diplomat belonging to the 20th batch of BCS Foreign Affairs cadre, joined Bangladesh Foreign Service in 2001.
Currently he is serving as the Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Kolkata, India.
In his diplomatic career, he has served in both Permanent Missions of Bangladesh to the UN in Geneva and New York as well as in Bangladesh Missions in Manila and Brussels in different capacities.
At the headquarters, he held several important positions such as Director General of Multilateral Economic Affairs Wing as well as of West Europe and European Union Wing.
He also had served as Director at the Foreign Minister’s Office.
His areas of expertise include trade and development, climate change, migration, LDC graduation, and South-South cooperation.
He was Chair of the LDC Group in Geneva and New York, and worked as Chief Negotiator of the Group of 77 on economic and financial issues on several occasions.
He studied Economics from the University of Dhaka.
Ambassador Tareq is going to succeed Ambassador Mohammad Sufiur Rahman in Geneva.
A career diplomat belonging to the 17th batch of the BCS (Foreign Affairs) Cadre, he joined the service in 1998.
Prior to taking up the current position in November 2020, he was serving as the Deputy Permanent Representative in the Bangladesh Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.
As for his other assignments abroad, he had another stint (from 2005 to 2009) in the New York Permanent Mission as First Secretary initially, and at the later part as Counsellor.
He then served in the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, India (2009-2012) as Counsellor as well.
At the headquarters, he served as Director General (South Asia Wing) and before that in various other capacities, including as Director (South Asia Wing), Director (Foreign Minister’s Office) as well as in the Personnel Wing and the Foreign Secretary’s Office.
Ambassador Tareq obtained a Master of Diplomacy and Trade degree from the Monash University, Australia and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).
He takes special interest in the areas of international peace and security, regional cooperation, human rights and migration.
