COLOMBO: The High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Sri Lanka Riaz Hamidullah paid a farewell call on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on Tuesday.
High Commissioner Hamidullah, who served in Sri Lanka for nearly four years, expressed his “gratitude and appreciation” to the Prime Minister for all the support extended to him during his tenure.
Noting that during Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s time as President, Sri Lanka-Bangladeshi relations were at an “exceptional level,” High Commissioner Hamidullah hoped that relations would be further improved in the coming years, particularly in areas such as trade, agriculture and fisheries.
Prime Minister Rajapaksa thanked the High Commissioner for his work in Sri Lanka and also asked him to convey his gratitude to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina for her recent phone call to wish Prime Minister Rajapaksa as he marked 50 years in politics.
Prime Minister Rajapaksa also commended the Mother Language Day program jointly organized by the High Commission of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Education earlier this year and requested the High Commissioner to urge his successor to continue that work.
The High Commissioner, on behalf of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, extended an invitation for Prime Minister Rajapaksa to visit Bangladesh at a convenient date in the future.
Hamidullah has done his graduation and post-graduation in Economics, respectively from India and Bangladesh.
He joined the Bangladesh Foreign Service in 1995. Served a good part of his career in multilateral economic diplomacy.
In the assignments abroad, he first served at the Bangladesh Permanent Mission to UN (New York). Later, served as a mid-career political officer in Bangladesh Mission (New Delhi, 2003-05).
During 2005-11, he worked on South Asian regional cooperation, including a three and half year stint at the SAARC Secretariat (Kathmandu) as a Director where he dealt inter alia with regional agriculture and rural development, transport connectivity, the SAARC Development Fund, development of regional projects. He also contributed towards development /re-organisation of SAARC institutions and processes.
In 2012, he served as the Director-General in charge of Europe and EU affairs. That time, he shepherded Bangladesh?s economic engagements with a number of European countries and Bangladesh?s entry in the ASEM process.
He served as the Director-General (Multilateral Economic Affairs) (2013-16) inter alia covering sustainable development, climate change, migration, development finance, multilateral trade, connectivity, water, blue economy. He shepherded Bangladesh’s engagement in a range of multilateral processes like Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. Served as the lead interlocutor and negotiator on Bangladesh Sustainability Compact on RMG and Textile industry vis-à-vis the US, EU; and matters related to Responsible Business Conduct. To date, anchors Bangladesh’s engagement in the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM EC). Since 2017, serving as the point man on Bangladesh engagements at the World Economic Forum.
Since August 2016, serving as the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Sri Lanka.
He holds interest inter alia in Development, technology, global business and work issues.