Noor Ahmed

Noor Ahmed

Senior Policy Advisor

Mr Noor Ahmed is Senior Policy Advisor at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). Mr Ahmed is a career civil servant with 32 years of public service experience in key government positions. He was extensively trained in the areas of public policy, fiscal management, and public enterprises at renowned academic institutions in the United Kingdom and Japan.

Mr Ahmed started his career in 1989 with the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, and then moved on to develop financial institutions with a focus on SME development, microfinance, and industrialisation. At the middle-management level, he held key positions in the Ministry of Privatisation, Federal Board of Revenue, and seven years with the office of the Prime Minister providing critical inputs on matters relating to the economy, fiscal, investment, trade, and energy for decision-making at the level of the Prime Minister.

From 2013 to 2018, Mr Ahmed served in the Ministry of Finance in key positions as Additional Secretary and later as Special Secretary, Finance Division. Some of the key areas of responsibilities included corporate finance and management of public sector enterprises; intergovernmental finance and fiscal transfers; public finance including budgeting and debt management; and management of external finances with a focus on external resource mobilisation, balance of payments, IMF-funded reforms programme and policy-based programmes of the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

From 2018 to June 2021, prior to his appointment in ADB as Executive Director for Kazakhstan, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, and Timor-Leste, Mr Ahmed served as Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Government of Pakistan, which is the focal Ministry for external economic relations with multilateral and bilateral development partners. Key responsibilities included programming and negotiations with multilateral and bilateral development partners for the mobilisation of external economic assistance with a focus on project financing, programme financing, and technical assistance. This also involved extensive coordination with multiple stakeholders within the federal and provincial governments, focusing on portfolio review of foreign-funded projects and implementation of agreed reform agenda.

During the course of his public service career, Mr Ahmed also served on the Boards of public sector enterprises including Pakistan International Airlines (PIACL), Pak-Arab Refinery (PARCO), and Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs), Pak-China Investment Company (PCICL) and Pak-Oman Investment Company. He also represented the Government of Pakistan as Executive Director, Islamic Development Bank; and Alternate Governor, World Bank and AIIB.