Tariq Karim

Introduction

Ambassador Tariq Karim is currently Director of the Centre for Bay of Bengal Studies at the Independent University, Bangladesh. Between 2014 and 2020, he was an Advisory Consultant for South Asia Regional Integration & Engagement to the World Bank as well Strategic Adviser to its South Asia Water Initiative from 2014 to 2020. Ambassador Karim is a member of the Advisory Board of the National Bureau of Asian Research of Seattle and Washington DC, United States (US). He is also an Honorary Adviser Emeritus to Cosmos Foundation, Bangladesh. Earlier, he was a Distinguished Fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation of New Delhi, India, from 2014 to 2017.

As a career diplomat, who joined the Foreign Service of erstwhile Pakistan in 1967 and moving to Bangladesh post-Independence in 1971, Ambassador Karim has served extensively at home and abroad. After opting for early retirement in 1998, he was recalled twice to serve the nation, notably, as Ambassador to the US (2001-2002) and as Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to India (2009-14) when he enjoyed the personal rank and status of a Minister of State of Bangladesh. His other senior assignments abroad were Ambassador to Iran with concurrent accreditation to Lebanon (1991-95); High Commissioner to South Africa, with concurrent accreditation to four African states; Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi (1984-88) and Deputy Chief of Mission in Beijing (1988-91).

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, notably, as Additional Foreign Secretary (1995-97), Ambassador Karim helped bring to closure to long-festering bilateral problems with Bangladesh’s neighbours, and to also champion government policy to promote sub-regional cooperation between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) as a means of working towards economic development and overall security for all four nations and as a steppingstone to larger regional cooperation with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation regional groupings.

Ambassador Karim was Distinguished International Executive in Residence (1999-2000) at University of Maryland, US. With his expertise in the structure of government institutions, diplomacy and negotiation, and knowledge of contemporary Islam, he was Consultant/Senior Adviser (2002-04) in the IRIS Centre of the University of Maryland. From 2004 to 2008, he taught courses as adjunct faculty at the University of Maryland’s Department of Government & Politics; George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, US; and Virginia International University, US.