Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque is flying to New Delhi to have a meeting with his Indian counterpart Vijay Gokhale Tuesday (Apr 16).

The secretary will also have meetings with different non-resident ambassadors to Bangladesh based in Delhi about his election at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)

Shahidul Haque is a candidate standing in the IOM deputy director general election.

The election for the post will be held on Jun 21 when 173 members will elect the second man of the UN body which looks after the global governance of migration, a subject very important for Bangladesh.

A senior foreign ministry official said, “The secretaries will discuss about regular bilateral talks and also about the election.”

There are 77 ambassadors who look after their interest in Bangladesh from Delhi and out of them about 60 are members of IOM.

The foreign secretary will have meetings with them and seek their support in the election, said another official.

Meanwhile, Shahidul will brief ambassadors in Dhaka about the election Saturday (Apr 13).

So far, four other aspirants showed interest for the post and those are from Sudan, Ethiopia, the Philippines, and Jordan.

A popular face in the migration world, Shahidul used to be in the IOM and worked there for 11 years at senior level posts on lien. He left the organization in 2012 and became the foreign secretary in 2013.

The secretary went to retirement on Dec 31 last year but got an extension for a year. He also elevated to senior secretary post last year.