IT IS both relevant and important to recall roles of personalities who put in their best efforts to ensure fairness and justice to responsibilities entrusted on them. Both in public services or in corporate and private domain, there are roles that warrant both respect and recognition. Former foreign secretary and ambassador Mohammed Mohsin, who passed away recently, was one of the senior most and outstanding personalities in the diplomatic arena with valued and credible experience and contribution of over five decades.
He studied in the University of Dhaka and the London School of Economics before joining public service through the then Central Superior Services examinations. A highly committed and diligent achiever in assignments that he held at home and abroad in the course of his career, Mohammed Mohsin, joined the erstwhile Pakistan customs and excise service in 1956. He was later inducted to the senior policy pool of the government. He specialised in trade and finance-related work and held several important assignments in the commerce ministry in the erstwhile central government and as trade commissioner in the New York mission. He resigned from service of the government of Pakistan while serving as an economic counsellor in the Pakistan embassy in Geneva in 1971.
After the liberation of Bangladesh, Mohammed Mohsin worked as joint secretary to the commerce ministry, acting managing director of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh and economic minister at the Bangladesh mission to European Union in Brussels (1974–1977). Mohammed Mohsin later served as director general of the foreign affairs ministry after which he was assigned as Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (1979–1981), ambassador to Saudi Arabia (1982–1984) and ambassador to Belgium and permanent representative to the European Union in Brussels (1986–1988). Mohammed Mohsin served as foreign secretary to the government (1988–1989).
During his ambassadorial assignments, he had a significant role in and contribution to expanding and strengthening relations with the countries where he represented Bangladesh and in prioritising economic and commercial dimensions of partnership. Major breakthroughs were achieved in promoting Bangladesh’s exports and sending Bangladeshi expatriates during his tenure as ambassador to these countries. As foreign secretary, he focused on trade and economic dimensions of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and and exploring regional and global trade-based benefits for developing countries such as Bangladesh. He was able to upgrade negotiations and facilitate consensus on core principles for strengthened bilateral and multilateral collaboration. On institutional perspectives, he undertook special initiatives in strengthening the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies and the Foreign Service Academy.
Both before and after the liberation of Bangladesh, he worked on global and regional trade reforms from the time of the erstwhile General Agreement for Tariff and Trade till transition to the World Trade Organisation. Mohammed Mohsin was among the first Bengali career civil servant and diplomat to chart mechanisms to promote economic diplomacy. In this perspective, throughout his career, he worked with extraordinary professionalism in promoting and advancing Bangladesh’s national economic and commercial interests.
After his retirement, Mohammed Mohsin worked as assistant secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (1989–1997) at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah. He is credited with an outstanding engagement in promoting the peace process in Mindanao in southern Philippines, for which he was awarded the highest diplomatic recognition from the government of the Philippines. During his tenure in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Mohammed Mohsin played a key role in enhancing the organisation’s profile and operational effectiveness. He also promoted extensive engagement of the member countries, within the umbrella of multilateral economic and social cooperation frameworks of the organisation
Further to these, he achieved a remarkable success in enhancing Bangladesh’s overall collaboration with the the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. He remained occupied with supervisory and advisory support for higher education through his role as a trustee of the Asia Pacific University. Over the years, his vibrant interactions and contacts with key global and regional leaders resulted in highlighting the need for continued collaboration despite challenges.
Mohammed Mohsin added significant value to strengthening of institutions and upgrading policy and programme structures. He received international honour and recognition as an exemplary negotiator for his visionary approach in resolving issues. He left an exemplary legacy that would inspire and motivate government officials, in general, and career diplomats, in particular.
Dr Mohammad Parvez Imdad was a senior member of the Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) and later worked in senior, principal and lead positions in international multilateral development institutions.
