The government plans a shuffle in a couple of important missions of Bangladesh, including Beijing, Brussels, Tokyo and UN missions in New York.

UN Permanent Representative Masud Bin Momen will be called back to serve as a secretary to the foreign office in Dhaka. He will be replaced by Rabab Fatima, the envoy in Tokyo, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mohammad Shahadat Hossain, who heads the embassy in Brussels, will be replaced by Kamrul Ahsan, a secretary at the foreign ministry.

Mahbub-Uz-Zaman, a secretary at the ministry, is likely to replace M Fazlul Karim in Beijing, who will be called back.

Since 2008, Masud Bin Momen was posted abroad while Mohammad Shahadat Hossain and M Fazlul Karim have been out of the headquarters since 2006.

The term for the ambassador to US Mohammad Ziauddin is likely to be extended by a year. He has been posted in Washington since 2014. 

This is a part of the foreign ministry’s plan to bring back ambassadors and other low-ranking diplomats who are serving in foreign mission for many years.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told the media last month there would be a big shuffle at the ambassador level by September.

 “There has not been any major shuffle after I took over but changes will come in the future.”

We want to carry out the changes before September because we don’t want the education of children of posted officers to be hampered, he said.