Mr. Muhammad Sami Saeed who has assumed charge as Caretaker Federal Minister for planning, development and special Initiative, is a retired civil servant who has held important positions in Government and International Organizations for 38 years.
He has extensive experience in the field of planning and development as well as public financial and economic management. He was Executive Director on the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank, Cabinet Secretary to the Government of Pakistan and Principal Staff Officer to the Prime Minister.
He served in the Government of Punjab as Chairman Planning and Development Board, Senior Member Board of Revenue, Additional Chief Secretary and Secretary of Agriculture and Excise and Taxation Departments.
He has held key positions in the Ministry of Finance, including Secretary of the National Finance Commission, Additional Secretary (Internal Finance and Banking), Joint Secretary (Provincial Finance and Development), Deputy Secretary (External Finance and International Financial Relations) and Additional Finance Secretary (Budget) in Punjab.
He also served as Deputy Commissioner Faisalabad and Assistant Commissioner Khanewal. He worked as Director on the Board of Directors of major banks and financial institutions, including United Bank, Allied Bank, Bank of Punjab and Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan.
Mr. Saeed represented the Government of Pakistan in various bilateral negotiations and international conferences including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland as well as bilateral and multilateral negotiations. As Executive Director on the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank, he paid official visits to many member countries around the world and interacted with the highest levels of Government there.
Mr. Saeed has an outstanding academic record and studied at renowned national and foreign universities.
He graduated from Government College Lahore, obtained his M.A. in English Literature from Punjab University and Postgraduate Diploma in Development Studies (Distinction) from University of Cambridge. He has also done professional courses in public finance and economic management as well as executive leadership development from Kennedy School of Government Harvard University, IMF Institute Washington, ADB Institute Tokyo and Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance.
Mr. Saeed has published over one hundred articles in leading national dailies and journals on financial, economic, development and governance issues as well as on social, literary and historical subjects. He also contributed a column “Life & Letters” in Dawn (Books & Authors). As team leader, he co-authored “Review of UNDP Country Program Pakistan (2004-08) published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
