Zunaid Ahmed Palak

General Information

Incumbent State Minister and Member of Parliament

Politician, Lawyer

Full Name: Zunaid Ahmed Palak

Affiliation: Bangladesh Awami League

Current Position: State Minister, Ministry of Information & Communication Technology

Date of Birth: May 17, 1980

Place of Birth: Bangladesh

Home District: Natore

Constituency: 60, Natore-3

Term: Third (9th-2008, 10th-2014, 11th-2018)

Nationality: Bangladeshi

Background:

Zunaid Ahmed Palak (born 17 May 1980) is a Bangladeshi politician and the incumbent Member of Parliament from Natore-3. In his early twenties, he followed his father's footsteps in politics and became a member of the Bangladesh Awami League. He obtained Master of Science in Political Science and LLB (Bachelor of Law) from the National University of Bangladesh. He also completed a Capstone Course from National Defense College, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Palak is a Lawyer by profession and enrolled as an Advocate in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

Ahmed also was a committee member where he planned to incorporate "Green Technologies" into its office building principles to reduce carbon emissions into the environment. He said that the building of offices and residences using green technology would not release any carbon to the environment, while the wastes of houses and offices will be recycled and to produce energy. He also expressed that a delegation from India was on their way to discuss different technological issues including the building of zero carbon emitting buildings. He further added “We asked the ministry concerned to take a pilot project to build its office building using green technology as part of the initiative. Several other lawmakers and I shared our experience of recent visit to the southern state of Karnataka and West Bengal of India where we saw offices and houses were built using green technology”.

Position Held:

Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh since January 2014;

Member of Parliament (National Assembly of Bangladesh) since January 2009;

Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on ICT Ministry and Private Members’ Bill from 2009 to 2013;

President of Bangladesh Carom Federation since 2009 and Vice-President of International Carom Federation since 2011;

Co-Chair of Parliamentary Committee on Climate Change from 2009 to 2013.

Achievement:

Nominated Young Global Leader in 2016 by the World Economic Forum.

Became Minister of State at the age of 33 years making him the youngest minister in the history of Bangladesh. During his tenure, more than 18,000 government offices across the country were brought under a dedicated high speed intranet, one of the world's largest web portals consisting of 25,000 government websites established, Bangladesh won ICT’s Sustainable Development Award and WSIS plus 10 Award from ITU and Public Service Excellence Award from WITSA.

Elected Member of Parliament (MP) at the age of 28 years and became the youngest MP in the Ninth Parliament and re-elected in 2014. Minister Palak is very active in the Parliament to have an accountable government.

Secured National Award on Environment in 2010 handed over by the Prime Minister in recognition to his role in the large scale tree plantation movement.