Mr. Md. Shahriar Alam, M.P., Hon’ble state Minister for Foreign Affairs, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Mr. Alam is deeply involved in politics and has been working as an active member of the Bangladesh Awami League since 1997. He has been enthusiastic to ensure effective representation of the new generation in politics and in the Parliament. He was elected as a member of the National Parliament for the first time in 2008 with the highest margin of votes among the 6 constituencies of the Rajshahi Division of the country.  He was elected a member of the National Parliament election in 2014 and 2018 consecutively. He was also the state minister for Foreign Affairs during the last tenure of Awami League Government.

During the first tenure of Md. Shahriar Alam as State Minister for Foreign Affairs, the ‘Envoy’s Conference’ was held successfully under his guidance. He stood by the family members of the deceased people in the terrorist attack of Holey Artisan and was highly praised. Besides leading the main activities of Foreign Affairs, Mr Shahriar played an important role in solving the problems of Expatriate Bangladeshi Nationals. He tried to expand new horizon of mutual cooperation among different countries. Under the leadership of State Minister Md. Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh participated in International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) meeting under Human Rights Commission of UN and also joined the 3rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) which contributed to develop the Human Rights condition in Bangladesh.

As a Member of Parliament, Mr. Alam has made enormous contributions in various capacities. While acting as the Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Information, he played a key role in finalizing the draft of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and presented the RTI during various orientation programmes before the newly elected Members of the Parliament.

Mr. Alam also served as a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Science & Technology and placed a motion in the Parliament with detailed explanation under the Rule 142 that paved the way to set up the first ever nuclear power plant. He acted as the Vice Chairman of All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Climate Change, Education and Poverty Reduction; and Vice Chairman of All party Parliamentary Group on MDGs, PRSP, WTO and Bangladesh Development Forum.

Mr. Alam also played a vital role as a member of the Preview Committee on Sangsad Bangladesh TV. He was a regular and active member of the discussion panel in the parliament session on budget and poverty reduction plan. An avid promoter of education, he spent all of his remuneration received as the Member of Parliament to run monthly scholarship programmes for secondary school students of his constituency.

Mr. Alam also served earlier as a member of the Awami League Sub-Committee on Information, Research & Publicity and Publications and played a key role in organizing various orientation programmes all over the country.

Mr. Alam is equally successful as an entrepreneur and started his career in Ready Made Garments Industry in 1995. A prominent entrepreneur having interest in different fields, his main focus is on textile business that employs 25 thousand workers. As a leading exporter, his company has been exporting to major destinations which include, among others, EU countries, the USA, Japan, Australia and Russia. Mr. Alam’s outstanding entrepreneurial success has helped him winning the National Export Trophy in Knitwear Category for 2007-2008. His business houses trains disables with the assistance from CRP and employs the highest number of physically challenged individuals. This led to the conferment of CSR Award from Global buyers on him. According to the advice of Mr Shahriar Alam who is renowned for his exceptional initiatives, the first Television channel in Bangla for children named Duronto TV is established which is the most popular Television channel in our country. This exceptional initiative is praised from all walks of people.

As a social worker, Mr. Alam established the first ever Cricket School in Rajshahi and some of the cricketers of this school have proved themselves to be accommodated in the national cricket team. He is chief patronizer of Franchise Cricket Rajshahi Kings. His initiatives helped create fresh jobs for a few thousand youth. He had also contributed in successfully running training programmes in the RMG sector. He served as the Vice President of Bangladesh Hockey Federation. Currently Mr. Shahriar Alam is the President of Bangladesh Tennis Federation and one of the Directors of the Abahani Limited, the biggest sports organisation of the country. He has been deeply involved in sensitizing people about creating an ethics-based work environment where everyone is held accountable. Mr. Alam has a personal dream to see a poverty-free Bangladesh. Having spent so many years in north Bengal, he established the North Bengal Development Forum to pursue different development agenda of the region.

A widely-travelled person, Mr. Alam visited all parts of the world even before joining as the State Minister for Foreign Affairs. The countries that he visited are among others, the UK, Canada, Russia, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China, Kenya, the UAE, the USA, France, Japan, Maldives, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Korea, South Africa, Ethiopia, Benin, Mexico, Samoa, Oman, Venezuela, Nepal, Belarus, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia, Rwanda, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Guinea, Vietnam, Croatia, Jordan Denmark and Kosovo.

Mr. Alam is an excellent orator and a much familiar face in mass media and social media. He is quite passionate about reading, music and sports, especially cricket, football, hockey, golf and lawn tennis.

Mr. Alam is married and blessed with two sons and one daughter.