The BNP government has initiated a sweeping restructuring of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, involving significant leadership changes at headquarters and in key global missions.
The reshuffle, arriving five months after BNP assumed office, includes the appointment of a new foreign secretary and new heads of missions in New York, New Delhi, London, and Geneva, with the New York and London posts being filled through political appointments.
A senior foreign ministry official confirmed the matter to TIMES.
Key leadership appointments
Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, currently the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York, has been appointed as the new foreign secretary. He will succeed the incumbent, Asad Alam Siam, who has been assigned as the next High Commissioner to India.
In a related sequence of moves, M Riaz Hamidullah, the current High Commissioner in New Delhi, will transition to Geneva as the Permanent Representative to the UN. Nahida Sobhan, who currently holds the Geneva post, is set to return to Dhaka to serve as the rector of Foreign Service Academy.
Government officials have indicated that these five high-level changes are interlinked, and their effective dates will likely be coordinated with the arrival of the new permanent representative in New York.
Political and international assignments
The government has selected Irene Khan, an internationally renowned human rights activist and former Secretary General of Amnesty International, as the next Permanent Representative to the UN in New York.
Khan, who currently serves as a Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, is expected to assume her duties before the UN General Assembly session this September.
Meanwhile, AKM Wahiduzzaman (Apollo), the BNP’s information and technology affairs secretary, is slated for appointment as the deputy permanent representative at the New York mission.
The position of high commissioner to the United Kingdom, which has been vacant since March, will be filled by Muhammad Abdul Muhit. A former Permanent Representative to the UN and the current Rector of the Foreign Service Academy, Muhit has been designated for the London mission.
Global Envoy Transitions The restructuring extends to several other diplomatic posts. M Farhadul Islam, the Ministry’s current Secretary (Inter-governmental Organisations), has been named the next Ambassador to Mauritius, replacing Joki Ahad.
Ahad has already been reassigned as the High Commissioner to Denmark.
In the three months preceding this announcement, the government also appointed Noor-e-Alam as the envoy to Ireland and AFM Zahidul Islam to Argentina.
Additionally, Lieutenant General SM Kamrul Hasan, a former Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces Division, has been appointed as the Ambassador to Portugal. Currently, the top diplomatic posts in Singapore and Iran remain vacant.
Contractual recalls
At the beginning of March, the government decided to recall four contract-based ambassadors appointed during the interim administration from Portugal, Poland, Mexico, and the Maldives.
While M Mahfuzul Haque (Portugal), Md Moinul Islam (Poland), and M Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarie (Mexico) have returned to Dhaka, the High Commissioner to the Maldives, Md Nazmul Islam, remains at his post after applying for an extension.
This major reshuffle follows a period of transition in the ministry’s senior leadership. Asad Alam Siam had replaced Md Jashim Uddin as Foreign Secretary on 20 June 2025.
Jashim Uddin, a former ambassador to China, was originally appointed by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus in August 2024, but was removed from the position after nine months in the role.
