Mohamed Mijarul Quayes

Mohamed Mijarul Quayes (2 April 1960 – 10 March 2017) was a Bangladeshi civil service officer and diplomat. He was appointed Bangladesh's ambassador to the Federative Republic of Brazil in 2012 till 2017 and high commissioner to the Court of St James's in the United Kingdom from 2012 to 2014. Prior to this, Quayes served as foreign secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the government of Bangladesh. He was previously the Bangladeshi ambassador to the Russian Federation and served as high commissioner to the Maldives prior to his posting to Moscow.

Education Quayes was born in Kishoreganj of then East Pakistan, Pakistan (now in Dhaka Division, Bangladesh). He was educated at Dhaka Residential Model College, the Department of International Relations at Dhaka University and furthermore, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was an Edward S. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management and studied under Amartya Sen, Robert Nozick, Shirley Williams, Richard Neustad, Ernest May and Robert Vogel at Harvard. At Dhaka University, he was a fellow of the Centre for Alternatives.

He was appointed as high commissioner to the Maldives and presented his credentials to Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in 2005. In 2008, he headed Bangladesh's mission in Moscow as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Bangladesh to Russia.

Mijarul Quayes took office as foreign secretary for the Bangladesh in 2009. His tenure as foreign secretary is noted for overseeing the facilitation of movement on longstanding issues with Bangladesh's neighbours. Quayes is remembered in his capacity as foreign secretary for leading regional initiatives and issues of global import ranging from human rights to disarmament, trade to sustainable development, gender, inclusion and empowerment and peace-building and for highlighting the consequences of climate change induced displacement for climate vulnerable nations like Bangladesh.

Upon completion of his tenure as foreign secretary, Quayes was appointed high commissioner to the United Kingdom. In April 2014, Quayes was transferred from his post as high commissioner in the United Kingdom to ambassador of Bangladesh to Brazil. He replaced M Shameem Ahsan who was appointed the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in Geneva. This was reshuffle was regarded as a less prestigious posting for Quayes and is attributed to the Bangladeshi government being unhappy with his performance as high commissioner and not securing congratulatory remarks from the British government for Sheikh Hasina for winning the 2014 Bangladeshi general election.

Death In February 2017, Mijarul Quayes was taken to a hospital in Brasília. He died from multiple organ failure on 10 March. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.