Profile
Foreign Secretary
Mr. Md. Shahidul Haque is currently serving as the Foreign Secretary in-charge of Bangladesh. Prior to this, he worked as an Additional Foreign Secretary and as a Director General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Earlier, Mr. Haque had worked in the Bangladesh Missions in London (First Secretary, Political/Consular, 1990-1994), and Bangkok (Counsellor, Political, 1994-1996), before serving as a Minister (Director General) in the Bangladesh Permanent Mission, Geneva (1999-2001). He had also served as a Director in various Directorates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Bangladesh including as the Director of the Foreign Secretary's Office (1996-1998). Mr. Haque has represented Bangladesh in various international fora. As a Counsellor/Minister at the Bangladesh Permanent Mission in Geneva, he dealt with WIPO, ILO, IOM and IAEA in Vienna.
From 2001 to 2012, Mr. Haque had worked for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) occupying several senior positions in field offices and the Headquarters in Geneva. He has served as Director at the HQs dealing with IOMs' external relations and international migration policy (2010-2012). He was also asigned as the Regional Representative for the Middle East was based in Cairo (2007-2010) and the Regional Representative for South Asia based in Dhaka (2001-2007). In addition to his responsibilities in South Asia, he had also served as the Regional Migration Management Coordinator for West Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran) in 2007 and as Chief of Mission a.i. of IOM Iran (2004 to 2007). In recognition of his outstanding and committed services to IOM, Mr. Haque received IOM Director General's Award in 2005.
Mr. Haque obtained an M.A. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in USA (1988) and was awarded Honourable Mention for Robert B. Steward Prize for high acedemic achievement at Fletcher School. He also obtained First Class First, both in Masters and Honours, in Social Welfare from the Dhaka University. He was also awarded the Dhaka University Chancellors Award, the Grants Commission Award and the Chancellors Gold Medal for his outstanding academic performance.
Mr. Haque's areas of academic interests range from migration, climate change, development to trade and human rights issues. His writing on migration and human trafficking issues has been published in various national and international journals. He was a member of the Editorial Board of the IOM World Migration Report 2005 and contributed to IOM's 3 volume training guide Essentials of Migration Management in 2004 as well as IOM-OSCE Trainers Manual on Labour Migration Management in 2010.
Mr. Haque is married with children.
