Muhammad Sami Saeed

Mr. Muhammad Sami Saeed joined the Pakistan Administrative Service in 1980 and held a number of important positions in government, corporate sector and international organizations. He has extensive experience in public policy formulation and implementation, especially in the field of planning and development as well as public finance and economic management. 

Mr. Saeed served as caretaker Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives (August 2023-February 2024). He was Executive Director on the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank from 2014 to 2018 and Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board, Cabinet Secretary to the Government of Pakistan and Principal Staff Officer to three Prime Ministers. 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 held key positions in Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance at various levels, including Additional Finance Secretary and Secretary of the National Finance Commission as well as Additional Finance Secretary (Budget) in Punjab. He also served as Deputy Commissioner Faisalabad and Assistant Commissioner Khanewal. In the corporate sector, Mr. Saeed served as Director on the Boards of Directors of major banks and financial institutions, including United Bank, Allied Bank, Bank of Punjab and Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Public Private Partnership Authority, Government of Pakistan as well as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC)

Mr. Saeed represented the Government of Pakistan in various bilateral and multilateral negotiations as well as international conferences including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, International Summit on Micro-Credit in Halifax, Canada, Second Urban Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan and the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, China. 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 from Kennedy School of Government Harvard University, IMF Institute Washington, ADB Institute Tokyo and Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance. He is a Certified Board Director.

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 (2004-08)” published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).