Shaukat Aziz

Infobox Prime Minister
name = Shaukat Aziz
شوکت عزیز

---

imagesize =
small

caption = Aziz at the 2007 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.
birth_date = birth date and age|1949|03|06
birth_place = Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
office = 24th Prime Minister of Pakistan
president = Pervez Musharraf
term_start = 20 August 2004
term_end = 15 November 2007
predecessor = Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain
successor = Muhammad Mian Soomro
office2 = 17th Finance Minister of Pakistan
term_start2 = 12 October 1999
term_end2 = 15 November 2007
predecessor2 = Ishaq Dar
successor2 = Salman Shah
religion = Islam
party = Pakistan Muslim League (Q)

Shaukat Aziz (Urdu: شوکت عزیز), (born March 6, 1949 in Karachi, Pakistan) was the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 2004 to 2007. He became Finance Minister in November 1999 and was handpicked by President Musharraf for the position of Prime Minister after the resignation of Zafarullah Khan Jamali on June 6, 2004. He became Prime Minister on August 28, 2004 and served until November 15 2007. He became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to complete a full term in office.

Education

Aziz attended Saint Patrick's High School, Karachi and Abbottabad Public School, Abbottabad. He passed his Intermediate from Government Islamia College, Kot Radha Kishen. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Gordon College, Rawalpindi, in 1967. He obtained an MBA Degree in 1969 from Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi, one of the premier business schools in Pakistan. It was during his studies at the IBA that he secured an internship at Citibank and began his banking career.

Controversy

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has been mentioned in rather uncharitable terms in US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s biography according to which when he tried to charm Dr Rice on her first trip to Pakistan in 2005.

Pre-politics

In 1969 he joined Citibank, serving in various countries, including Pakistan, Greece, the United States, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Singapore. He served as Citibank's head of Corporate and Investment Banking for the Asia Pacific region and the CEEMEA region (Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa); as Corporate Planning Officer, Citicorp; as Citibank's Chief Country Officer in Malaysia and, later, in Jordan. He has been a board member of Citibank subsidiaries, including Saudi American Bank, Citicorp Islamic Bank, and of several non-profit organizations [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3941185.stm Profile: Shaukat Aziz - BBC NEWS] ] .

Finance Minister

On 26th November 1999, while addressing a gathering of PakPAC, a political lobbying sub-body of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA), Musharraf stated that Shaukat Aziz has come to Pakistan with forty other financial experts who have offered free service to revive the Pakistani economy. Then he asked Shaukat Aziz to stand up and introduce himself to the audience. In November 1999 Aziz became the government's Finance Minister with responsibility for Finance, Economic Affairs, Statistics, Planning and Development, and Revenue Divisions. As Minister of Finance Aziz also headed the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet, the Cabinet Committee on Investment, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, and the Cabinet Committee on Privatization. In 2001 Aziz was declared 'Finance Minister of the Year' by "Euromoney" and "Banker's Magazine".

Prime Minister

Aziz was named by the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) as the next Prime Minister after Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali resigned on June 6, 2004.

The post was held by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain while Aziz fulfilled the constitutional requirement of securing a seat in the lower house of parliament. Aziz ran from two constituencies, Tharparkar-I in Sindh, and Attock- III, located west of Islamabad [ [http://pakistantimes.net/2004/08/21/top1.htm Shaukat takes oath as MNA, Retains Attock Seat - Pakistan Times] ] . While campaigning on July 29, 2004 Aziz survived an assassination attempt in the small town of Fateh Jang in Attock district. A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a car in which Aziz was travelling, killing his chauffeur and eight others. However, Aziz continued campaigning and won from both constituencies. Since he could retain only one seat, he immediately vacated his Tharparkar seat, preferring to represent Attock, where he had won by 76,156 votes to 29,497.

Aziz was elected Prime Minister by Parliament on August 27, 2004, by a vote of 191 to 151 in the National Assembly of Pakistan, and was sworn in on August 28, 2004. He retained his position as Minister of Finance, and he presided over an unprecedented boom in the Pakistani economy.

Aziz left office on November 16 2007, at the end of the parliamentary term and became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan who left seat after completion of parliamentary term of five years. [ [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-11/16/content_6260363.htm "Soomro takes oath as Pakistan's caretaker PM"] , Xinhua News Agency, November 16, 2007.] His party, Pakistan Muslim League (Q), however, refused to offer him a ticket for contesting the 2008 National Assembly Elections, a mandatory requirement for the second term in the premier post. Interestingly, present leading parliamentarians like Khawaja Asif and many others call him the architect of the Casino economy after his close aides made millions of dollars in different sectors - for instance, the stock exchange, wheat, rice, cement and steel sectors.Fact|date=August 2008

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3941185.stm Profile] by BBC dated July 30, 2004
* [http://www.asia-inc.com/March04/coverstory_mar.htm The Turnaround Wizard] - "Asia Inc." cover story, March 4, 2004
* [http://www.asiasource.org/news/special_reports/aziz.cfm Asiasource interview] of Shaukat Aziz dated April 20, 2004
* [http://www.riazhaq.com/2008/07/shaukat-azizs-economic-legacy.html Shaukat Aziz's Economic Legacy]
*http://www.infopak.gov.pk/primeminister.aspx
* [http://streaming.scmp.com/podcasting/upload/NS_070328.mp3 A conversation with Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz] A "South China Morning Post" podcast featuring an interview with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, dated 28 March, 2007
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/175/000098878/ NNDB Profile of Shaukat Aziz]
* [http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/21/nat6.htm When Aziz was stared down by Rice]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box |title=Finance Minister of Pakistan
years=6 November, 1999 - 15 November, 2007
before=Ishaq Dar| after=Salman Shah

succession box |title=Prime Minister of Pakistan
years=20 August, 2004 - 15 November, 2007
before=Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain
after=Muhammad Mian Soomro