Dhaka, Sep 22 Bangladesh’s foreign secretary Asad Alam Siam is set to become the country’s new high commissioner to India after Dhaka received New Delhi’s consent for his appointment, a foreign ministry official said on Tuesday.
“We have received the Indian consent for his (Siam’s) appointment as the high commissioner there,” said a foreign ministry official familiar with the development, adding that the ministry was expected to issue a statement by Wednesday.
His comments came hours after Bangladesh high commission spokesman in the Indian capital Saidur Rahman confirmed the development, saying India’s external affairs ministry issued the agrément, or formal consent for Siam’s appointment.
Siam, a career diplomat who joined the Bangladesh Foreign Service in 1995, is set to replace Bangladesh’s current envoy M Riaz Hamidullah.
Hamidullah has been appointed as Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
Siam served as Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United States prior to his appointment as the foreign ministry’s top bureaucrat in June 2025. Previously, he also served as the country’s ambassador in Australia.
Foreign ministry officials earlier said Dhaka decided to send its senior-most diplomat to India as New Delhi appointed former union minister and political figure Dinesh Trivedi as its envoy to Bangladesh with the same status in April this year.
India-Bangladesh ties witnessed a downturn during the 18-month tenure of the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus, which assumed charge after a student-led uprising toppled the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024.
Several political analysts said Trivedi’s appointment by India and Dhaka’s decision to send its senior-most diplomat to New Delhi could be seen as signals by both countries to normalise relations.
(PTI News)
