AK Abdul Momen

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh

A. K. Abdul Momen

এ. কে. আব্দুল মোমেন

Abdul Momen in 2023

Member of the Bangladesh Parliament
for Sylhet-1
In office
30 January 2019 – 6 August 2024
Preceded by| Abul Maal Abdul Muhith
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
7 January 2019 – 10 January 2024
Prime Minister| Sheikh Hasina
Preceded by| Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali
Succeeded by| Hasan Mahmud
Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations
In office
26 August 2009 – 30 October 2015
Preceded by| Ismat Jahan
Succeeded by| Masud Momen
President of UNICEF
In office
2010–2010
Preceded by| Oumar Daou
Succeeded by| Sanja Štiglic
Personal details
Born|  (1947-08-23) 23 August 1947 (age 77)
Sylhet, East Bengal, Dominion of Pakistan
Nationality| Bangladeshi
Political party| Bangladesh Awami League
Parents|

* Abu Ahmad Abdul Hafiz (father)
* Syeda Shahar Banu (mother)

Relatives| AM Abdul Muhith (brother)
Shahla Khatun (sister)
Abdul Hamid (granduncle)
Alma mater|

* University of Dhaka
* Northeastern University

Abul Kalam Abdul Momen (born 23 August 1947), known as AK Abdul Momen, is a Bangladeshi economist, diplomat, and politician who served as minister of foreign affairs from January 2019 to January 2024. He served as permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations from August 2009 until October 2015.[1] He was elected a member of Jatiya Sangsad from the Sylhet-1 constituency at the 2018 general elections.[2] Following his election, he was appointed the minister of foreign affairs by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.[3]

## Background and education

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Abdul Momen was born on 23 August 1947, to a Bengali Muslim political family in Sylhet. His father was Abu Ahmad Abdul Hafiz, a lawyer, who was one of the founders of the Sylhet branch of the All-India Muslim League and took part in the Pakistan Movement.[4] His mother, Syeda Shahar Banu, was one of the leading women of the Bengali language movement. He was one of fourteen children. His elder brother was AM Abdul Muhith, a former minister of finance, and his sister is Shahla Khatun, a physician and National Professor of Bangladesh.[5]

Abdul Momen passed the matriculation exam from Sylhet Government Pilot High School. He attended the University of Dhaka and earned a BA in economics in 1969, and an MA in development economics in 1971.[6]

## Career

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Abdul Momen with Alexander Schallenberg at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in 2022

Abdul Momen became a civil servant, serving as private secretary to the minister of rural development, local government and cooperatives from 1973 to 1974; private secretary to the minister of trade and commerce, and mineral resources and petroleum from 1974 to 1975; section officer, South Asia, East Asia and Middle East, Ministry of Commerce from 1975 to 1976; and director, Office of the President's Advisor on Trade and Commerce from 1976 to 1978. Meanwhile, he completed an LLB in law and jurisprudence from Central College, Dhaka, in 1976.[6]

Abdul Momen continued his education in the United States, receiving a MPA from Harvard Kennedy School and a PhD in economics from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1988.[6] He taught economics and business administration at Merrimack College, Salem State College, Northeastern University, the University of Massachusetts, and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[7]

In 1998, Abdul Momen became an economic adviser at the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF). He left Saudi Arabia in the wake of the 2003 Riyadh compound bombings, and returned to Massachusetts. There he taught in the Department of Economics and Business Administration at Framingham State College until appointed Bangladesh's permanent representative to the United Nations in New York in August 2009.[6]

Abdul Momen served as president of the UNICEF executive board at the international level in 2010.[8][9] He was vice president and acting president of the 67th United Nations General Assembly.[10] He was the president of the United Nations High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation in 2014.[10]

Abdul Momen's elder brother, Bangladesh's Minister of Finance Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, hoped that Abdul Momen would succeed him as a member of the parliament representing the Sylhet-1 constituency in the 2018 general election, which he eventually won.[11][2]

Yahoo news[12] reported that Abdul Momen said in February 2020 that Bangladesh had "no obligation" to provide shelter to Rohingya refugees who were stranded in the Andaman Sea on a ship. He asked the UNHCR to take the responsibility.[13][14]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Masud Momen new Bangladesh's UN envoy". The Daily Star. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
2. ^ a b এ কে আবদুল মোমেন. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Retrieved 8 January 2019.
3. ^ "47-member new cabinet announced". The Daily Star. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
4. ^ সংরক্ষণাগারভুক্ত অনুলিপি. Sylhet Sadar Upazila (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
5. ^ জীবনটা নিয়ে আমি সন্তুষ্ট. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). 25 January 2017.
6. ^ a b c d "His Excellency Abulkalam Abdul Momen". The Diplomat. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
7. ^ "Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen". Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of Bangladesh to the United Nations. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
8. ^ Officers of the UNICEF Executive Board 1946–2014, UNICEF
9. ^ Executive Board Archived 2020-10-07 at the Wayback Machine, UNICEF
10. ^ a b "H.E. Abulkalam Abdul Momen". United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016.
11. ^ "Muhith wants brother Momen to contest for his Sylhet constituency". bdnews24.com. 5 June 2016.
12. ^ "Bangladesh under no obligation to accept Rohingya refugees stranded at sea, minister says". Yahoo News.
13. ^ "Exclusive: Bangladesh under 'no obligation' to accept stranded Rohingya refugees - minister". Reuters. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
14. ^ "Bangladesh under 'no obligation' to accept stranded Rohingya refugees". The Independent. 27 February 2021. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Smith, James F. (28 July 2009). "Framingham State professor headed to UN". Boston Globe.
* "Dhaka's permanent UN envoy slates staff recall, calls for a rethink on service rules". bdnews24.com. 2 January 2015.

## External links

[edit]

* v
* t
* e

Chairperson and presidents of UNICEF

Chairperson|

* Ludwik Rajchman (1946–50)
* Adelaide Sinclair (1951–52)
* August R. Lindt (1953– 54)
* Balachandra Rajan (1955–56)
* Mahmood Shafqat (1957–58)
* John Ryan (1959)
* Felix Schnyder (1960)
* W. A. E. Green (1961)
* Miguel E. Bustamente (1962–63)
* Zina Harman (1964–66)
* Joseph W. Willard (1966–68)
* İhsan Doğramacı (1968–70)
* Nils Thedin (1970–72)
* Narciso G. Reyes (1972–74)
* Hans Conzett (1974–76)
* Antonio Ordoñez-Plaja (1976–77)
* Ferdinand Oyono (1977–78)
* Sadako Ogata (1978–79)
* Zaki Hasan (1979–80)
* Paal Bog (1980–81)
* Dragan Matelijak (1981–82)
* Hugo Scheltema (1982–83)
* Haydée Martínez de Osorio (1983–84)
* Richard C. Manning (1984–85)
* Anwarul Karim Chowdhury (1985–86)
* Maurizio Bucci (1986–87)
* A.P. Maruping (1987–88)
* Makoto Taniguchi (1988)
* Torild Skard (1988–89)
* Margarita Diéguez (1989–90)
* Lisbeth Palme (1990–91)
* Mira Seth (1991–92)
* Frederick Ward (1992–93)
* Anne Makinda (1993–94)

Presidents|

* Anne Makinda (1994)
* Khalil Makkawi (1995)
* Ion Goriță (1996)
* Mercedes Pulido (1997)
* Michael Powles (1998)
* Ibrahim Gambari (1999)
* Anwarul Karim Chowdhury (2000)
* Movses Abelian (2001)
* Andrés Franco (2002)
* Jenö Staehelin (2003)
* Lebohang K. Moleko (2004)
* Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi (2005)
* Andrei Dapkiunas (2006)
* Javier Loayza (2007)
* Anders Lidén (2008)
* Oumar Daou (2009)
* AK Abdul Momen (2010)
* Sanja Štiglic (2011)
* John W. Ashe (2012)
* Jarmo Viinanen (2013)
* Macharia Kamau (2014)
* Maleeha Lodhi (2015)
* Sven Jürgenson (2016)
* Walton Alfonso Webson (2017)
* Tore Hattrem (2018)
* Omer Dahab Fadl Mohamed (2019)
* Rabab Fatima (2020)
* Rytis Paulauskas (2021)

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