Lahore School of Economics

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The role of public policy – The government’s perspective
March 24, 2016

Bio - Fazal Abbas Maken, Ministry of Science & Technology, Islamabad

Mr. Fazal Abbas Maken completed his Graduation from Government College, Lahore with Economics and Statistics as his major subjects. Mr. Maken joined the Pakistan Administrative Service (formerly known as District Management Group) in 1983. Apart from holding district-level administrative assignments, relating to law & order and revenue collection, he has held mid-management and senior management positions related to planning & development, project management, policy making and promotion of Pakistan’ s international trade.

Mr. Maken served as Secretary, Irrigation and Power Development, Government of NWFP (now Khyber Pukhtunkhwa) from August 2000 to September 2002. During his tenure, he led the formulation and implementation of the Development Plans and various policies for these sectors. He successfully steered the Malakand-III Hydel Power Project and initiated the procurement process for its construction. He also worked with WAPDA for preparation and approval of PC-1 for GomalZam Dam Project.

Mr. Maken worked as Project Director of the Machine Readable Passport Project from December 2002 to February 2005. There he led the effort for re-engineering the existing business processes of the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports and planned efficient human resource deployment for the project.

From February 2005 to August 2009, he served as Minister (Trade) at the Pakistan High Commission, New Delhi. This assignment entailed liaison with the Indian Government to address issues pertaining to bilateral economic relations. He also composed a repertoire titled, “Status of Indian Agriculture”, which was circulated amongst the relevant Government ministries / departments.

Mr. Maken later served as Secretary, Commerce & Investment Department, Government of Punjab from December 2009 to January 2011. He was responsible for undertaking initiatives for attracting investment in the Province and played a pivotal role in the provincial government’s efforts for raising funds for rehabilitation work during the 2010 floods.

From December 2011 to November 2014, he worked in the Ministry of Commerce as an Additional Secretary. The job involved negotiations with bilateral and multilateral trading partners and formulation of Pakistan’s stance regarding various WTO agreements. He also worked towards building consensus amongst domestic stakeholders on multiple issues related to Pakistan’s trade relations with other countries. Mr. Maken also led the ministry’s team which formulated the Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2012 - 2015.

As Additional Secretary, Ministry of Interior (November 2014 to July 2015), he handled issues pertaining to immigration policy and registration of citizens for smooth and effective implementation of the National Action Plan to counter terrorism. He was instrumental in formulating policies regarding Immigration, Arms Control and regulation of private security companies. He launched a project to introduce E-filing in the Ministry.

Mr. Maken assumed the charge of Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology (MoST) on 9th July, 2015. With his diverse expertise in policy making and trade promotion, He is pursuing to create linkages amongst R&D institutions, academia and the industry. He is endeavouring to re-orient the existing R&D paradigm towards industry-focused and need-based research, with a view to contribute towards, technological advancement of the country’s industrial sector. Besides this, he is also supervising the administering of distinctive trade-related services, being provided through MoST, for standardization, accreditation and conformity assessment.

Labels: Annual Conference, CREB, Management of Pakistan Economy, Twelfth Annual Conference