Published : 13 Oct 2026, 12:14 PM
Updated : 13 Oct 2026, 12:14 PM
Three women high commissioners and ambassadors who have been leading Bangladesh missions abroad have been promoted to the rank of secretary.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a notification on Monday regarding the promotions.
The promoted women are Bangladesh High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam Naureen Ahsan, Bangladesh High Commissioner to New Zealand Samina Naz and Bangladesh Ambassador to Greece Nahida Rahman Shumona.
Samina and Naureen are officers of the 15th batch of the BCS Foreign Service Cadre and Sumana is an officer of the 17th batch.
Before taking charge of the Wellington Mission in New Zealand, Samina served as the Bangladeshi ambassador to Vietnam and Egypt. She is the first Bangladeshi resident high commissioner in Wellington.
Her appointment as deputy high commissioner in Mumbai in 2013 marked the first time a woman diplomat had led a Bangladesh mission. Samina also held various positions at Bangladesh’s Permanent Mission of the United Nations in The Hague, in New Delhi and New York.
Shumona served as the high commissioner of Bangladesh in Brunei Darussalam for four years before moving to Athens. During her diplomatic career, she has held various positions at the Bangladesh missions in Brazil’s Brasilia, Canada’s Ottawa, Kolkata and Australia’s Canberra.
Naureen, who joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995, has held various positions at the missions in South Africa’s Praetoria, The Hague and Ottawa during her diplomatic career.