Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury takes office as Foreign Secretary

Career diplomat Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury on Sunday assumed office as Bangladesh's new Foreign Secretary, succeeding Asad Alam Siam, who is set to take up his next assignment as High Commissioner to India.

Chowdhury, a secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will discharge the duties of Foreign Secretary until further notice, according to an official notification issued by the ministry.

Foreign ministry officials bade farewell to Siam and welcomed Chowdhury at the ministry.

Siam assumed office as Foreign Secretary on June 20 last year.

Chowdhury previously served as Bangladesh's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York before returning to the ministry's headquarters in Dhaka.

He joined the Bangladesh Foreign Service in 1998 and served as Bangladesh's Ambassador to Nepal from November 2020 to December 2024.

During his diplomatic career spanning more than two decades, Chowdhury served in various capacities at Bangladesh's High Commissions in New Delhi and Islamabad, the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York and the Consulate General in New York.

At the ministry's headquarters, he worked in the United Nations, Economic Affairs, Administration, Protocol, External Publicity and Southeast Asia wings, as well as at the Foreign Service Academy.

Outgoing Foreign Secretary Siam joined the Bangladesh Foreign Service in 1995 and held a range of diplomatic and administrative positions.

Before becoming Foreign Secretary, he served as Bangladesh's Ambassador to the United States, with concurrent accreditation to Guyana, and as the country's Permanent Representative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

From 2023 to 2024, he served as Ambassador to Austria, with concurrent accreditation to Hungary and Slovenia. He also represented Bangladesh as Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Vienna and the OPEC Fund.