Ambassador Tariq Karim is currently Director of the Centre for Bay of Bengal Studies at the Independent University, Bangladesh. and concurrently Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. Between 2014- 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).
Ambassador (Retd) Tariq A Karim
Director, Centre for Bay of Bengal Studies, Independent University of Bangladesh