Ambassador Farooq Sobhan

Ambassador Farooq Sobhan is a Distinguished Fellow and Board Member of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI), an independent research institute he helped establish in October 2000 and led for over two decades. BEI focuses on private sector development, investment climate reform, regional cooperation in South Asia, and counter-terrorism and counter-radicalization issues in Bangladesh.

Ambassador Sobhan had a distinguished career spanning more than three decades in the Foreign Service. He served in postings in Cairo, Paris, Belgrade, and Moscow before serving as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York (1981–1984), High Commissioner/Ambassador to Malaysia (1984–1987), Ambassador to the People's Republic of China (1987–1991), High Commissioner/Ambassador to India (1992–1995), and Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh (1995–1997). He subsequently served as Executive Chairman of the Board of Investment and Special Envoy of the Prime Minister (1997–1999). He was a Visiting Professor at George Washington University in 2003.

He is currently Chairman of the Sajeda Foundation, Chairman of the CSR Centre in Bangladesh, Chairman of the Osiris Group in Bangladesh, Chairman of the South Asia Foundation (Bangladesh Chapter), and a Member of the Board of Governors of the South Asia Centre of Policy Studies. He is currently a member of the International Advisory Board of the Asia Society in the United States and the Round Table in the United Kingdom.

Ambassador Sobhan has been a keynote speaker at numerous international conferences over the past two decades and has served on international panels and advisory committees, including the International Commission on Migration and Development. He has written extensively on international relations and Bangladesh's foreign policy, and has co-authored works on South-South cooperation and South Asian regional cooperation. He holds a BA (Honours) from Dhaka University and an MA from Oxford University.