Ex-minister Mahmood Ali passes away

Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, former finance minister, passed away at a private hospital in Dhaka yesterday, aged 82.

Family sources said he had been suffering from kidney-related complications.

Mahmood Ali was born on June 2, 1943, in Khamar Bishnuganj, Khansama, Dinajpur. He earned a master's degree in economics from Dhaka University in 1963 and later became a lecturer in the same department.

In 1966, he joined the Pakistan Foreign Service.

In 1968, he was appointed vice consul in New York, where he worked to mobilise the Bangalee community and advocate for Bangladesh's independence.

During the 1971 Liberation War, he served as a representative of the provisional government of Bangladesh in the US.

In 2008, he was elected as a member of 9th National Parliament from Awami League and served as chairman of the standing committee on foreign affairs.

He later served as foreign minister from February 2014 to January 2019.

Mahmood Ali also served as ambassador to several countries, including the US and the UK.