Dhaka: Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has appointed Dr Fahmida Khatun, Research Director, CPD as its new Executive Director (ED).

The decision was taken at the 48th meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of CPD on Sunday.

Current ED Professor Mustafizur Rahman will continue to work at CPD as a Distinguished Fellow.

Both the appointments will take effect on March 2017, said a press release.

The BoT thanked the outgoing ED for his outstanding contributions to the CPD for three consecutive terms.

At the meeting, the Board expressed its satisfaction over CPD's overall performance in 2016 and approved CPD's annual accounts for 2016 and budget for 2017.

The Board also endorsed the annual plan for research, dialogues and publications of the organisation.

For the coming year, the Board advised CPD to focus more on emerging and thematic issues of importance from the perspective of Bangladesh's future development, and more proactively engage the young generation, in carrying out its research and policy influencing activism.

Presided over by CPD Chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan, the Board meeting was attended by CPD Trustees former Finance Minister M Syeduzzaman, Apex Group Chairman Syed Manzur Elahi, Nijera Kori Coordinator Khushi Kabir, CPD Distinguished Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya and outgoing CPD ED Prof Mustafizur Rahman.