Late Ambassador Rezaul Karim

My first meeting with Rezaul Karim was in May 1973; he was then Director General (West European Desk) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I had come to Dhaka from New Delhi, accompanying the first Ambassador of Belgium accredited to Bangladesh. On that occasion, we met several times and we were very impressed by his high professionalism and by his natural courtesy. We were also surprised that we could conduct most of our conversations in French, a language that Mr. Karim had mastered to near perfection.

Later, when I came back to Dhaka to open the Belgian Embassy, my contacts with Mr. Karim became more frequent and more personal. On several occasions, he even helped me to navigate smoothly through the administrative complexities which I had to face to set up a new Embassy.

Our relations became even more personal when, in 1975, the first Belgian resident Ambassador in Dhaka decided to rent the newly built house of Mr. Karim for his official residence. It was in that beautiful house that, in May 1981, the late King Baudouin of Belgium accompanied by Queen Fabiola, had a grand reception.

In 1993, when my wife and I wanted to observe the 20th anniversary of our posting in Bangladesh, we were so happy to associate Karim and Salma to our celebrations.

And again, when the time came for us to leave definitively Bangladesh in 1998, Salma and Karim had the extreme courtesy to arrange a touching farewell dinner to which they had invited a few colleagues and close friends.

My wife and I shall always keep the memory of a great diplomat, of a good man and a faithful friend.

May his soul rest in peace!