If Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf keep their promise of attending the coming SAARC summit, former Bangladesh envoy in Islamabad Q A M A Rahim will succeed Nihal Rodrigo of Sri Lanka as the organisations's secretary general. Rahim has been nominated by the government for the post.
This is Bangladesh's term for the office.
Rahim, a veteran diplomat has also served as the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Australia
An old hand in SAARC activities, Rahim was the chief coordinator of the SAARC summit held here in 1993 and also served as director general of South Asia and SAARC desk in the ministry of foreign affairs. If elected, he will be the second Bangladeshi to become the chief-executive of the seven-nation regional body.
The tenure of the new secretary general begins from January 11 after the conclusion of the 11th SAARC summit slated to be held in the first week of next month in Kathmandu.
The SAARC council of ministers (foreign minister) is to endorse the new secretary general prior to the holding of the summit from January 4 to 6.
The news of Rahim's candidature came during Rodrigo's visit here to take stock of the preparations for the summit. He expressed satisfaction over the preparations, and informed Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf have assured to attend the summit.
Rahim becoming the new SAARC Secretary General or not depends fully on the summit taking place.
Bureau Report