ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved an expansion in the strength of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet and appointed Federal Minister for Education Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui as a new member.
“Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has been inducted into the ECC as a new member,” said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office media wing on Thursday.
The prime minister expressed hope that Dr Siddiqui, as an ECC member, would contribute to the country’s progress.
Dr Khalid Siddiqui, who is also the convener of MQM-Pakistan, along with a three-member party delegation, met the prime minister at the PM House on Wednesday (May 20).
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb currently heads the committee. Other members include the minister for economic affairs, minister for commerce, minister for power, minister for petroleum, and minister for planning, development and special initiatives.
The ECC has 18 co-opted members by special invitation, including the deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission; governor of the State Bank of Pakistan; chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan; and secretaries of various divisions, including power, commerce, communications, finance, industries and production, economic affairs, petroleum, planning, national food security and research, privatisation, railways, revenue/FBR, poverty alleviation and social safety, and water resources, as well as the chairperson of the Board of Investment.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had earlier withdrawn himself as ECC chairman on March 21, 2024 and appointed the finance minister to head the committee.
