Dr Tauqir’s appointment as WTO ambassador as per rules

ISLAMABAD: The appointment of Dr. Tauqir Shah as ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was made after completing due process, as his names was sent to the prime minister by the Special Selection Board (SSB) unlike his predecessors who were appointed to the key post through an executive order, official documents available with The News reveal.

The selection committee constituted by the prime minister held several meetings for the selection of permanent representative to the WTO in line with the directives of the PM.

The meeting was chaired by minister for commerce and its three members, including federal secretaries of Commerce, Establishment Division and Foreign Affairs. The documents further say that the committee was apprised that the post had been circulated to all the divisions in the federal government as well as all the provincial governments by the Establishment Division.

In total, 18 candidates applied for the post, out of which six candidates were shortlisted by the shortlisting committee for the interview on the basis of criteria intimated by the prime minister.

Those who were shortlisted for the interview include Fawad Hassan Fawad, PAS, Additional Secretary Prime Minister Office, Omar Hameed, C&T Joint Secretary CA&DD, Asad Majeed Khan, FSP, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Pakistan, Washington, Dr. Syed Tauqir Hussain Shah, PAS, OSD, S&GAD, Government of Punjab, Mr. Niaz Muhammad Khan, C&T, Director General Ministry of Commerce Islamabad, Raja Tahir Majeed, Pakistan Customs FBR.

Interviews of the shortlisted candidates were held and only four out of six shortlisted candidates were interviewed as Fawad Hassan Fawad had intimated withdrawal of his candidacy due to his present posting at the Prime Minister Office. Raja Tahir Majeed could not appear in the interview due to some domestic issue. The selection committee then unanimously decided to forward three names of the candidates to the prime minister for selecting any one of them.

The three shortlisted candidates for the post of Pakistan’s Ambassador to WTO include Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, Dr. Tauqir Shah and Mr. Qamar Hameed. According to sources, the then three federal secretaries who were members of the selection committee include Commerce Secretary Arbab Shahzad, Secretary Establishment Division Nadeem Hasan Asif and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry and none of them opposed any name sent to the prime minister.

All the three names shortlisted for the post of Pakistan’s permanent representative in the WTO were decided unanimously by the selection committee. The position of permanent representative of Pakistan at WTO was created in 2002 and none of the earlier appointment for this post was made through a due process.

The News has learnt that during former military dictator Pervez Musharraf and PPP regimes the appointments for the post of Pakistan’s ambassador to WTO were made through an executive order.

However, for the first time the post was circulated widely by the Establishment Division and 18 eligible officers applied for this slot. The News has the minutes of the meeting of SSB which is signed by all the members of the committee.

It is worth-mentioning that SSB is a standing body and the same body recommends panels for all ministry of commerce positions like trade minister Geneva, Brussels and Washington DC, among many others.

It is important to note here that previously Pakistan’s ambassadors to the WTO were given multiple extensions as the dynamics of multilateral system, issues being dealt in WTO and key positions being held by ambassadors and trade diplomacy imperatives warrant continuity.

The News has also learnt that the report prepared for SCP by Establishment Division states that all the Commerce Secretaries including Arbab Shahzad and Azmat Ali Ranjha evaluated Ambassador Tauqir’s performance at WTO as outstanding in year 2015 and 2016.