Sobhan, Rehman

Rehman Sobhan (Bengali: রেহমান সোবহান; born 12 March 1935) is a Bangladeshi economist. Regarded as one of the country's top public thinkers, he is the founder and the current chairman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), an organisation active in open public discussions of policy issues, particularly in the area of governance. Sobhan is an icon of the Bangladeshi independence movement for his role as a spokesman of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh in the United States during the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was awarded the Independence Day Award, Bangladesh's highest civilian honour, in 2008. He was also part of the first Planning Commission of Bangladesh and he later served as the planning adviser for the first caretaker government of Bangladesh.