State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaid said the government decided to appoint two state ministers at Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry to expand and accelerate its work. She made the remarks while answering journalists’ questions at a hotel in the capital on Saturday, August 22, 2026.

The government on Friday also assigned Prime Minister’s foreign affairs adviser Humayun Kabir as state minister for foreign affairs, issuing a notification the same day. Shama said the ministry had handled substantially more work during the past six months than at any time in the previous 17 years.

She said new wings had been launched and work was under way on migration and preventing irregular migration. The ministry has also formed interministerial focal-point committees with the expatriates’ welfare, cultural, labour and commerce ministries, arrangements she said did not previously exist. According to Shama, the ministry’s scope of work, workload and pace have increased sharply, prompting the decision to appoint two state ministers.