Sufiur Rahman appointed as chief advisor’s special assistant to foreign ministry

Career diplomat Mohammad Sufiur Rahman, who was the Bangladeshi ambassador to four different countries during Sheikh Hasina’s rule, has been appointed as Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus’s special assistant to the foreign ministry.

The Cabinet Division issued a notice to the effect on Sunday, giving him the rank and status equivalent to a state minister. He has also been given executive powers at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sufiur will receive the rank, salary and allowances of a state minister.

Sufiur, an officer in the BCS foreign affairs cadre, joined the government service in January 1991. In 2012, the government appointed him as an ambassador.

He last served as Bangladesh's ambassador to Switzerland from October 2022 to May 2024 and as Bangladesh's permanent representative to the United Nations and international organisations in Geneva.

Before that, Sufiur was Bangladesh's high commissioner to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and several South Pacific countries from 2018 to 2022.

From 2014 to 2017, he was Bangladesh's ambassador to Myanmar. It was during his tenure that the Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh.

Since his retirement, Sufiur was working as a senior research fellow at North South University's South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance from last July.