PM approves Noor Ahmad as executive director for ADB

ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved the summary to appoint Federal Secretary Economic Affairs Division, Noor Ahmed as new Executive Director (ED) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for its four-year tenure.

This high-profile post of Pakistan’s ED in ADB will fall vacant on June 30, 2021, so the government moved a summary before Prime Minister Imran Khan seeking approval for the appointment. Pakistan’s incumbent ED into ADB Shahid Mehmood would complete his four-year term on June 30, 2021, for which the head hunting was on for the last few months. Four names were forwarded to PM Imran Khan for selection of the new ED in the Manila-based-ADB including "Secretary Interior Yousaf Naseem Kokhar on top, Secretary Planning Hamed Yaqoob, Secretary Power Ali Reza Bhutta, Secretary EAD Noor Ahmed.”

Now the PM has granted approval of Noor Ahmed as the new ED into Asian Development Bank for the four year tenure. It would be relevant to mention that some senior bureaucrats had refused this top position including the incumbent Secretary Communication Zafar Hasan, because he did not want to go abroad due to personal reasons. There were a couple of other bureaucrats who had also refused the position. But it is quite a strange that such high- profile and lucrative position was declined by the bureaucrats and there is a critical need to ascertain its reasons. According to some of the officials with experience to work on such assignments, said that the post of ED of the ADB or others in WB or IMF requires macroeconomic understanding, experience to execute projects and diplomatic skills to convince the representatives of other countries in order to win their support for crucial projects. India always lobbies to create difficulties so there should be clear cut understanding to foil those attempts and mustering support for preserving Pakistan’s interest.

Noor Ahmed who has now been appointed as ED into ADB is a career civil servant with 27 years of diverse experience in public service.