Farooq Sobhan served in various capacities in the Bangladesh government and foreign service.
15 Facts About Farooq Sobhan
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Farooq Sobhan 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.
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Farooq Sobhan did his schooling in St Paul's School, Darjeeling.
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Farooq Sobhan attended the University of Dhaka and the University of Oxford before joining the Foreign Service of Pakistan.
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Farooq Sobhan is the younger brother of Rehman Sobhan, an economist.
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Farooq Sobhan served as the chairman of the Board of Investment in with rank and status of a State Minister.
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Farooq Sobhan was executive chairman, Board of Investment and special envoy to the Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999.
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Farooq Sobhan 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.
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Farooq 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.
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Farooq Sobhan 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.
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Farooq Sobhan is the chairman of an advisory committee on counter terrorism established in 2006, which includes senior officials of the government.
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Farooq 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.
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Farooq Sobhan was the principal challenger for Commonwealth Secretary-General when Don McKinnon was elected at the 1999 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
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Farooq Sobhan stood on a platform of changing the emphasis of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group from infringements on the Commonwealth's democratic principles to 'any economic or environmental crisis'.
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The result of the vote, is said to have been thirty-six votes for McKinnon to sixteen for Farooq Sobhan, although, continuing the pattern set for Chief Emeka Anyaoku at the 1989 CHOGM, the result was announced as 'unanimous'.