Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, stood First Class First in BA Honours in Political Science at the Dhaka University and also obtained an MA and Ph.D on International Relations from the Australian National University, Canberra. Earlier, he secured a High First Division in Intermediate of Arts, and a place in Matriculation Examination. In the Superior Service Competitive Examination in 1968, he stood first in then East Pakistan and joined the erstwhile Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) in 1969.
 
Throughout a career that spanned across a period of nearly 38 years, Ambassador Chowdhury held many senior positions in the government including that of Ambassador to Qatar (1994-1996), Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva (1996-2000), and Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2001-2007). He has been a Secretary to the Government. He also had concurrent accreditation to the Holy See (Vatican), Chile and Peru as Ambassador.
 
During his long stints in Geneva and New York, he had been President of the Conference on Disarmament, Chairman of the WTO Council on Trade Policy Review, WTO Committee on Trade and Development, Chairman, United Nations Information Committee, Chairman, Population and Development Commission, Vice Chairman, Human Rights Commission, and Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly, among other positions. He had been actively associated with the United Nations reform process as a Facilitator appointed by the President of the United Nations General Assembly.
 
His contributions as a global diplomat were recognized by the New York City Council when in a Proclamation in 2003, Dr. Iftekhar Chowdhury was named "one of the world's leading diplomatic leaders". He was also awarded a Knighthood of the Order of St Gregory the Great by the Pope. He and his wife, Mrs. Nicole Chowdhury, have one daughter, Noureen Fink Chowdhury, currently with the International Peace Academy in New York.