Farooq Sobhan
Farooq Sobhan is a former Bangladeshi diplomat. He served in various capacities in the Bangladesh government and foreign service. He was Bangladesh's Ambassador to the People's Republic of China and High Commissioner to Malaysia and the Republic of India as well as the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh.
Early life and career
Sobhan was born in 1940 in Calcutta during British rule into an aristocratic Bengali Muslim family of Khandakars. He did his schooling in St. Paul's School, Darjeeling. He attended the University of Dhaka and the University of Oxford before joining the Foreign Service of Pakistan. He is also the younger brother of Rehman Sobhan, an economist.Sobhan also served as the chairman of the Board of Investment in with rank and status of a State Minister. As of 2022, Sobhan is the president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, a private think-tank in the country that focuses on private sector development.
Sobhan was executive chairman, Board of Investment and special envoy to the Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999. He served as chairman of the Group of 77 at the UN 1982–1983, and was chairman, UN Commission on TNCs from 1991 to 1992. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies, based in Kathmandu and was co-chairman of the Coalition for South Asian Co- operation from 1994 to 2001.
Sobhan was a visiting professor at the Elliott School for International Affairs at George Washington University in 2003, where he taught a post-graduate course on South Asia. He is the chairman of the board of trustees of the independent CSR Centre, an organization focused on corporate social responsibility, established in Dhaka in September 2007. He is the chairman of an advisory committee on counter terrorism established in 2006, which includes senior officials of the government.
Sobhan's publications include a book entitled Opportunities for South-South Co-operation and as co-author, Shaping South Asia’s Future: Role of Regional Co-operation.