Ali Jehangir Siddiqui

His father, Jahangir Siddiqui, founded Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd in 1970 which later became JS Group, an investment holding company with Rs.

Ali Jehangir Siddiqui (born 5 December 1976) is a Pakistani diplomat and entrepreneur.

He has served as the Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan with the status of Minister of State and Pakistan's Ambassador for Foreign Investment in an honorary capacity.

He has also served in various business and government advisory councils, policy institutions, and commercial entities.

Ali Jehangir Siddiqui was born to Jahangir Siddiqui, a Pakistani businessman, and Mahvash Jahangir Siddiqui, an educationist on 5 December 1976 in Karachi, Sindh.

At the age of 15 he launched a technology business called Advance Micro Research which integrated computer network systems for corporations.

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.

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.

413 billion (US$3.7 billion) in assets as of December 2017.

The Group claims to employ more than 20,000 people in Pakistan and has invested in several companies in various sectors.

Siddiqui's mother Mahvash Siddiqui is an educationist by profession and has served as a Professor of English Literature and Head of the English Department at Khatoon-e-Pakistan College, Karachi.

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:

Siddiqui has served as a Member of the Board for Global Access Health (GAH); a social enterprise which expands access to affordable medical technology such as diagnostic tests and manufacturing processes.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.