The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday announced the appointment of Md. Golam Sarwar, the serving Bangladeshi Ambassador to Malaysia, as the next Secretary General of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). He is replacing Esala Ruwan Weerakoon of Sri Lanka.
He will be the fifteenth in the list of succession and the third Bangladeshi to assume this position of the regional organization.
As the incumbent secretary general Weerakoon had already completed his term in February-end, there was confusion over his replacement. As per the alphabetical order, it was Afghanistan’s turn to nominate a new secretary general. But as the seven Saarc member states are yet to recognise the new Taliban-led regime in Kabul that came to power in 2021, the issue of appointing a new secretary general had got complicated. Nepal has been chairing the regional bloc since 2014 as there has since been no Saarc summit owing to India-Pakistan disputes.
With the recommendation of Sarwar as the new Saarc secretary general, officials hoped the stalled Saarc process would finally get some momentum.
A career diplomat, Sarwar belongs to the 10th batch of Bangladesh Civil Service (Foreign Affairs). Joining the service in 1991, he has served extensively in different capacities both at home and abroad.
Prior to his current assignment, he served as the Bangladesh Ambassador to Oman and Sweden as well as the Consul General in Jeddah.
His illustrious diplomatic career also includes stints in Bangladesh missions in Yangon, Kuala Lumpur, Kathmandu and Washington DC.
Hailing from Noakhali, Ambassador Sarwar did his masters in Accounting from the University of Dhaka.
He also completed an Article Studentship with a leading Chartered Accountants and Management Consultant firm under the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB).
Ambassador Sarwar is married to Ms. Taslima and blessed with two sons.
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