Shawdesh desk:

The British High Commissioner Designate to Bangladesh Ms Sarah Cooke arrived on Sunday (April 30) in Dhaka to take up her new diplomatic assignment in the country.

She succeeds Robert Chatterton Dickson.

On her appointment as the British High Commissioner Designate to Bangladesh, Ms Cooke said: “I am delighted and deeply honoured to be returning to Bangladesh as British High Commissioner. The United Kingdom has strong cultural, political and economic ties with Bangladesh and works closely with the Government and people of Bangladesh on our many shared interests, including trade, investment, development and security.”

“I am committed to strengthening the long and friendly bilateral relationship and look forward to deepening the extensive cooperation between our two countries,” reads a British High Commission statement.

Ms Cooke previously served in Bangladesh from 2012-2016, as the Country Representative for the Department for International Development (DFID).

Most recently, she was Head of the South East Asia Department at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (2020-2023) and the British High Commissioner to Tanzania (2016-2020).

Ms Cooke joined DFID in 2005 where her roles included leading UK international development policy on economic growth and investment, anti-corruption and aid effectiveness. She also worked as the Deputy Head of the Commission for Africa Secretariat and as a Deputy Director in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in the Cabinet Office.

Before joining the UK Civil Service, Ms Cooke worked in Guyana in the Ministry of Trade; in the Solomon Islands as an Advisor in the Ministry of Commerce; and as an Economic Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.