AK Abdul Momen

Abul Kalam Abdul Momen (born 23 August 1947) is a Bangladeshi economist, diplomat, politician and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. He was Bangladesh's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from August 2009 to October 2015.[1] He won the 2018 Bangladeshi general election from Sylhet-1 constituency.[2] In 2019, he was appointed as the minister of foreign affairs of the Government of Bangladesh.[3]

A. K. Abdul Momen
এ. কে. আব্দুল মোমেন
Momen in April 2019
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 January 2019
Preceded by	Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali
Member of Parliament for Sylhet-1
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 January 2019
Preceded by	Abul Maal Abdul Muhith
Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York of Bangladesh
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 Sylhet, East Bengal, Dominion of Pakistan
Nationality	Bangladeshi
Relatives	Abul Maal Abdul Muhith (brother)
Alma mater	University of Dhaka (BA, MA) Northeastern University (PhD)

Early life and education

Momen was born on 23 August 1947 in Sylhet. He 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.[4]

Career

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.[4]

Momen continued his education in the United States, receiving a PhD in economics from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1988.[4] 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.[5]

In 1998, 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.[4]

Momen served as President of the UNICEF Executive Board at the international level in 2010.[6][7] He was Vice President and Acting President of the 67th United Nations General Assembly.[8]

Momen was President of the United Nations High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation in 2014.[8]

Momen's elder brother, Bangladesh's Minister of Finance Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, hoped that Momen would succeed him as a member of the parliament representing the Sylhet-1 constituency in the 2018 general election, which he eventually won.[9][2]

References

1. "Masud Momen new Bangladesh's UN envoy". The Daily Star. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
2. "এ কে আবদুল মোমেন". প্রথম আলো (in Bengali). Retrieved 2019-01-08.
3. "47-member new cabinet announced". The Daily Star. 2019-01-06. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
4. "His Excellency Abulkalam Abdul Momen". The Diplomat. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
5. "Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen". Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of Bangladesh to the United Nations. Archived from the original on 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
6. Officers of the UNICEF Executive Board 1946–2014, UNICEF
7. Executive Board, UNICEF
8. "H.E. Abulkalam Abdul Momen". United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016.
9. "Muhith wants brother Momen to contest for his Sylhet constituency". bdnews24.com. 5 June 2016.

Further reading

• 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.