Shaukat Aziz

Shaukat Aziz is a former Minister of Finance and Prime Minister of Pakistan. From 1999 to 2004, he served as the Minister of Finance of Pakistan, and from 2004 to 2007, he served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan. Shaukat Aziz was born on March 6, 1949 in the southern city of Karachi, Pakistan. He studied in Karachi and Abbottabad in his early years. In 1967, he graduated with a bachelor's degree from Gordon College in the northern city of Rawalpindi. In 1969, he obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Karachi. After leaving school in 1969, Aziz joined the Karachi branch of Citibank in the United States. In 1975, he began working in branches in Jordan, the Philippines, Greece, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He held senior management positions at Asia Pacific Investment Bank, Central and Eastern European Investment Bank, Middle East Africa Investment Bank, and Saudi American Bank until being appointed as the Executive Vice President of Citibank in 1992. In October 1999, after Musharraf took office, Aziz was appointed as the Minister of Finance of the Transitional Government. Previously, he had 30 years of work experience in the financial industry. In 2002, Aziz became a senator and continued to serve as Minister of Finance in the Jamali administration. During his tenure, the economic situation in Pakistan significantly improved, and the economic growth rate increased year by year, with Aziz playing an important role. At the end of June 2004, Jamali resigned from his position as Prime Minister, and the ruling Muslim League recommended Aziz to succeed him. However, as he was not a member of the National Assembly at the time and did not have the qualifications to be elected as Prime Minister, the position of Prime Minister was temporarily replaced by the President of the Muslim League, Chaudhry Shujat Hussein. On August 27, 2004, Aziz was officially elected as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan. During his tenure as Minister of Finance, Aziz's macroeconomic policies played a decisive role in Pakistan's political stability and economic growth, ending Pakistan's era of stagflation. The plan to strengthen privatization and economic liberalization was personally initiated by Aziz, which carried out privatization reforms on state-owned enterprises and strengthened the national economic infrastructure, resulting in an average annual economic growth rate of 64% in Pakistan and a reduction in inflation rate to 35%. Prior to his tenure, Pakistan's inflation rate was 11-12%. During his tenure, Pakistan achieved the tax collection and management goal for the first time in its history, with a 40% increase in revenue used for the development of reproduction. In addition, despite the uncertainty of the internal and external situation, Pakistan's economic situation has still significantly improved. As of June 30, 2004, its foreign exchange reserves increased to $10.5 billion. In October 1999, when it succeeded as Minister of Finance, its foreign exchange reserves were $1.2 billion. As the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Aziz implemented a large-scale military and police reform plan, guiding important investments in the automotive, energy, nuclear industry, and port industries, resulting in unprecedented GDP growth in Pakistan. At the same time, Aziz actively encourages the development of the internet and telecommunications service industry, and opens up private media in Pakistan as a window to showcase Pakistan's national image to the world. Aziz is friendly to China and has visited China multiple times. In December 2004, he served as Prime Minister