ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Thursday approved the appointment of Haroon Sharif as chairman Board of Investment (BoI) – a one window facility under the Prime Minister Office for promotion of local and foreign direct investment.

Minister for Information Chaudhry Fawad Hussain confirmed that the cabinet approved the induction of Sharif as the BoI chairperson. He succeeds Naeem Zamindar who was appointed by the PML-N government in November 2017 from the private sector and resigned in June this year.

BoI is required to assist local and international investors and helps them build joint ventures in the country.

The new chairman is a well-known global expert of economic policy, international development, economic diplomacy and financial markets who worked as the Regional Advisor to the World Bank Group for promoting economic cooperation in South and Central Asia and was involved in the execution of CASA-1000 and Islamabad-Kabul-Dushanbe Expressway.

Haroon is currently a senior fellow of the British Council for promoting regional knowledge and leadership networks between the UK and Pakistan as well as a visiting fellow at the National Defence University.

He previously headed the Economic Growth Group at UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) for ten years, managing a portfolio of 500 million pounds. He also had a three-year stint as the Executive Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

Haroon holds postgraduate qualifications in international business and development economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science as well as the University of Hawaii, USA.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2018