New Delhi: Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam, appointed as the country’s top diplomat by the previous Yunus administration, is all set to be the next High Commissioner to India—marking a significant diplomatic reshuffle by the Tarique Rahman-led government, five months after it came to power.
Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York and former ambassador to Nepal, is expected to succeed Siam as foreign secretary, according to a report by Prothom Alo.
The move would see the current High Commissioner to India, M. Riaz Hamidullah, reassigned to Geneva as Dhaka’s Permanent Representative.
Siam, who assumed office as foreign secretary on 20 June, 2025, is seen as among the most experienced career diplomats in the country. He joined the Bangladesh Foreign Service in 1995 and has spent three decades serving in senior diplomatic and policy roles across Asia, Europe and North America.
Before his current posting, Siam served as Bangladesh’s ambassador to the US from November 2024 to June 2025, with concurrent accreditation to Guyana, while also representing Dhaka at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Earlier assignments also included ambassadorial postings in Austria, where he was also Permanent Representative to the UN offices in Vienna and the OPEC Fund, and in the Philippines, with concurrent accreditation to Palau.
He also represented Bangladesh at Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Rice Research Institute.
His diplomatic career spanned postings in Bangkok, Jakarta and Manchester. He also served as Bangladesh’s first Consul General in Milan.
In Dhaka, he held senior positions in the foreign ministry, including Inspector General of Missions, Rector of the Foreign Service Academy, Chief of Protocol and Director General for Europe and the European Union.
He also served in the offices of both the foreign minister and the foreign secretary, according to Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry website.
Beyond bilateral diplomacy, Siam has represented Bangladesh in several multilateral forums. He served as the country’s Permanent Representative to the UN offices in Vienna, an Alternate Permanent Representative to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, a Governor on the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Vice Chair of the 67th Commission on Narcotic Drugs at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
He also chaired and served on the Board of Governors of the Colombo Plan Staff College in Manila.
The appointment comes amid broader changes within Bangladesh’s foreign service under the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, which came to power in February with a thumping majority after the fall of the previous Hasina government in 2024. The new administration has recalled several ambassadors appointed during the previous Yunus-led interim administration and has begun reshaping the country’s diplomatic corps through a series of new appointments.
Other appointments include tjat of Irene Khan, a renowned human rights activist and former Secretary-General of Amnesty International, who has now been appointed as Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York.
Siam’s expected posting to New Delhi also follows India’s appointment of former Union minister Dinesh Trivedi as India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh in April. Soon after India accorded the Dhaka posting ceremonial status, equivalent to that of a Union Cabinet minister in India’s Table of Precedence—a symbolic gesture to reflect the strategic importance India attaches to ties with Bangladesh.
The appointment comes as both countries navigate a period of political transition and renewed diplomatic engagement. Hamidullah’s appointment in May 2025 came amid strained ties between both countries as the High Commissioner navigated political shifts with a focus on cultural diplomacy and shared heritage.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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