tgn15

  Speaker 2015 Annual Meeting

 

 chowdhurry_bb_2015

 

Taufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury BB
Adviser (Minister) to the Prime Minister on Power, Energy & Mineral Resources Affairs, Bangladesh

Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, BB is an Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh (rank and status of a Minister) on Energy, Power and Mineral Resources since January 2009. After finishing the five-year term in office in 2013, he has been reappointed in the same capacity in 2014.
Bangladesh witnessed unprecedented growth in power and energy sector during 2009-2014. For instance, power generation has more than doubled, access to electricity increased from 47% to over 70% and more than 3.5 million solar home systems have been installed.
Dr. Chowdhury, after a two-year stint as a Lecturer of Economics at Dhaka University, joined the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) in 1968. Abandoning his job as the Sub-Divisional Officer of Meherpur, Kushtia in 1971, he joined the Liberation War of Bangladesh, was commissioned in the Bangladesh Armed Forces. Decorated for gallantry as Bir Bikram, Dr. Chowdhury was one of the chief organizers of the historic event of the Declaration of Independence and the swearing in ceremony of the first Government of Bangladesh in Mujibnagar, Meherpur on April 17, 1971.
Later he reverted to the civil service and after several assignments, went for higher studies in Leeds University, UK (1975) and did his PhD from Harvard University, USA (1983). He was CEO and Managing Director of the Industrial Bank of Bangladesh. Dr. Chowdhury served as Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh for nearly a decade in the Ministries of Food, Statistics, Power Energy & Mineral Resources and Planning. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Economic Growth Centre of the Yale University.
Born in 1945, Dr. Chowdhury retired in 2002 and later worked as a consultant to, among others, UN agencies and multilateral organizations before he took up the present assignment.
Dr. Chowdhury has authored several books and published articles in reputed journals.