Ali Jehangir Siddiqui

Ali Jehangir Siddiqui, ‫علی جہانگیر صدیقی‬, (born 5 December 1976) is a Pakistani diplomat and
entrepreneur.He is currently serving as Pakistan's Ambassador for Foreign Investment in an honorary
capacity. He has previously served as the Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States and as Special
Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan with the status of Minister of State. He has also served in
various business and government advisory councils, policy institutions, and commercial entities.

Siddiqui founded JS Bank Limited in 2006 by acquiring American Express Bank's Pakistan operations. JS
Bank currently has an asset base of over $4 billion, with a workforce of 5000 employees and presence in
180 cities of Pakistan.

Entrepreneurship
Siddiqui has been notable in several business ventures, as a counsel and advisor throughout his career.
This came from his work and investment with partners for setting up various businesses, including:

Airblue
Arabian Gulf Steel (a steel producer in the UAE)

Jura Energy (a Canadian oil and gas company with operations in Pakistan)

RAK Ghani Glass (the largest pharmaceutical glass producer in the UAE and GCC countries)

JS Private Equity Management (founder and later Chief Investment Officer)

Board Memberships
In 2019, Afiniti, an artificial intelligence company appointed Siddiqui to its advisory board with former
UK Prime Minister David Cameron joining as Chairman of the Advisory Board.

Siddiqui serves as the Chairman of the Board for Global Access Diagnostics in an honorary capacity.

Siddiqui is on the Board of Governors of IPRI, a non-partisan think-tank on international relations,

lawfare, strategic studies, governance, public policy, and economic security in Pakistan.

Government
Board member of the Community Development Board (CDB) of the Government of Sindh

Board member of the Private Sector Task Force of the Planning Commission of the Government of
Pakistan

Board member of the Board of Investment of the Government of Sindh

Board member of the Privatization Commission of the Government of Pakistan

He had previously been a member on the boards of different government institutions.

Public service
Until he took up his government roles, Siddiqui was the CEO of the Mahvash & Jahangir Siddiqui
Foundation (MJSF), which provides grants to the education, humanitarian relief, healthcare and social
enterprise sectors in Pakistan. After the 2010 floods, MJSF established refugee camps accommodating
more than 10,000 affected individuals, providing food supplies to over 20,000 people and clean water
for over 100,000 people during the 4-month relief operations period. MJSF worked in coordination with
the UN agencies and INGOs.

Apart from humanitarian services, Siddiqui is also known to support the arts.

He served on the board of Acumen, a global social enterprise investment firm, for 9 years.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister

Soon after Shahid Khaqan Abbasi became Prime Minister of Pakistan, Siddiqui joined the Government
and served as a Special Assistant to the Prime Minister with the status of a Minister of State from August
2017 until May 2018.

Ambassador to the US
In March 2018, he was appointed as the Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States and commenced
his duties on 29 May 2018.[38]

As Ambassador, he handled numerous regular engagements and meetings such as Congressional

Outreach Programs, Think-tank meetings, Trade & Economy sittings, Embassy events, and Media as well
as academia addressing.

Prior to his appointment as the Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, the National Accountability
Bureau (NAB) claimed that Siddiqui was involved in matters relating to three companies: Azgard,
Agritech, and Monte Bello which caused losses to investors and shareholders. Their claim was that he's
the director of Azgard which siphoned moneys amounting to €23.758 million to purchase the company
Monte Bello SRL using another company Fairytal SRL Sweden which resulted in loss for shareholders. He
also sold shares under Azgard to government institutions at higher market rate in order to compensate
for the company's loans.

On the contrary, other reports suggested that the allegations from NAB were baseless. These allegations
were politically driven because the Azgard and Agritech matters were already sub-judice prior to
Siddiqui's appointment and Siddiqui was neither a party nor a respondent in these proceedings. Siddiqui
had also left the board of directors of Montebellos parent company 4 years prior to its bankruptcy. The
counterclaims, thus, indicated that the allegations in the investigation were an attempt to defame him
and impede his appointment as ambassador. The court decided in favour of Siddiqui.

Siddiqui's reputation and work was acknowledged by US commentators while it was frequently criticized
by Indian media.
In June 2018, Siddiqui presented his credentials to US President Donald Trump.

In July 2018, Siddiqui met James Mattis, the US Secretary of Defence. The meeting took place at the
Pentagon where Siddiqui received a guard of honor on behalf of Pakistan.

During celebrations for Pakistan's 71st Anniversary of Independence in August 2018 at the Pakistani
Embassy in Washington, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
Ambassador Alice Wells, the chief guest at the event, acknowledged Pakistan's sacrifices against
terrorism.

In October 2018, the Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced a change in
Pakistan's ambassadorial appointments to multiple countries including the United States, Canada, Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, Serbia, Cuba amongst others. The individuals being changed were appointed during the
regime of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Speaking of Siddiqui’s role with regards to Pak-US relations at the launch of the Pak-Americana Report
by Tabadlab on February 12, 2021, the Former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, Salman Bashir, credited Ali
Jehangir Siddiqui for overcoming obstacles and specifically making possible the Pakistan PM's visit to the
White House.

Ambassador for Foreign Investment

On 13 June 2019, Ali Jehangir Siddiqui was appointed as the Ambassador for Foreign Investments in an
Honorary Capacity.

Under his tenure due to the efforts of the PTI government in encouraging foreign and local investments
in the country, Hutchison Port Holdings – Hong Kong-based port operator— committed on 15 October
2019 to invest US$240 million in Karachi Portin order to make it a major trading hub.

The Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, received the delegation of the group in October 2019, led by
their Managing Director, Eric Ip.

World Economic Forum

Siddiqui was appointed to lead Pakistan Prime Ministers’ agendas at the World Economic Forum Annual
Meetings in 2018 and 2020. In an interview, he summarized the delegation’s engagements at WEF 2020
under the key themes of economic partnership with Turkey, increased footprint among existing
Japanese conglomerates, and Digital Pakistan.

In 2014, he was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Multilateral engagement
As Special Assistant to the Prime Minister in 2017 and 2018, Siddiqui participated as a member of the
Prime Ministers delegations to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meetings,[60] UN General Assembly, Shanghai Cooperation Organization's Council of
Heads of Government Meetings and the World Economic Forum Annual Meetings.
He was tasked to lead the Prime Minister's agenda at the annual meeting of World Economic Forum
2020 held in January, at Davos.

Personal life
Siddiqui is married to Saira Munir Ahmed nee Siddiqui, a Montessori teacher by profession.

Academic

Siddiqui's early education consisted of:

1995: Karachi Grammar School

1999: BA Economics, Cornell University

He has also pursued additional educational courses at MIT, the University of Cambridge and the
University of Oxford.[65]

Later, he lectured at various institutions, including:

2012: College of William and Mary in Virginia.

2013: National School of Public Policy in Lahore.

2014: National Defence University in Islamabad.

2018: Entrepreneurship and Management Excellence Center at Institute of Business Management in

Karachi.

2018: School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC

2019: The University of Oxford

Awards and achievements

Siddiqui was listed by Pakistan's Federal Board of Revenue as amongst the top 100 individual taxpayers
in Pakistan for the year 2013. He was chosen as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum
2014.