Sartaj Aziz

Sartaj Aziz (Urdu: سرتاج عزيز; 7 February 1929 – 2 January 2024) was a Pakistani economist and strategist, who had previously served as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan, member of the federal cabinet as the de facto Minister for Foreign Affairs, a Federal Senator as well as the National Security Advisor.

Born in north-western British India, as a student Aziz was an activist in the Pakistan Movement. Aziz went on to study economics at Punjab University and later studied public administration at Harvard Kennedy School. He served as a civil servant from 1952 to 1971 within Pakistan's federal government, also serving as the joint secretary in the planning commission between 1967 and 1971. In 1971, Aziz joined the Food and Agriculture Organization and served as its Director of Commodities, later moving to the International Fund for Agricultural Development where he served as the Assistant President, Policy and Planning between December 1977 and April 1984.

Aziz returned to Pakistan in 1984 and served as a junior minister for Agriculture and Food Security until 1988 under the conservative Junejo administration. He was elected to the Senate of Pakistan in 1988 and re-elected in 1993 from the center-right PML-N, and served in both Sharif administrations first as the Minister of Finance from August 1990 to June 1993 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from August 1998 until 1999 coup d'état. He is noted as the only cabinet member who opposed the decision of conducting nuclear tests in response to India, citing 'economic reasons'. During his tenure as the Finance Minister he was noted a strong proponent of economic liberalization.

In 2004, he moved to academia, and became the vice-chancellor of Beaconhouse National University; he also taught at economics at the university. Aziz authored Between Dreams and Realities, which was published in 2009. He remained with the university until 2013, when he joined the Nawaz Sharif's third administration as an advisor in-charge of country's foreign policy; he also served as the National Security Advisor between 2013 and 2015.