Syed Amjad Ali

Syed Amjad Ali came from a Lahore business family and entered public life through the constitutional politics of British India. After graduating from Government College in 1927, he helped the Muslim delegation at the London Round Table Conference and the Indian delegation considering constitutional reform in 1933. Elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1937, he worked closely with the Unionist leadership. His brother Babar Ali's memoir describes how these political connections drew him away from the family's commercial business. ^{1, 2}

Appointed economic minister at the Washington embassy in 1950, Ali also represented Pakistan at the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and United Nations. He became president of the UN Economic and Social Council in 1952 and ambassador to the United States in 1953. ¹

During negotiations over the proposed Southeast Asia defense pact in August 1954, Ali pressed American officials to explain what its language would mean in practice. He asked whether provisions on mutual aid would create definite military or financial obligations or merely express intentions. He also questioned whether the economic clauses added anything to existing institutions. The Americans replied that the treaty did not promise specific aid and would leave individual governments to determine their response to aggression. ³

Ali returned home as finance and economic affairs minister in September 1955, serving until October 1958. His later UN work included representing Pakistan from 1964 to 1967 and chairing the developing countries' group at the first UN Conference on Trade and Development. In 1993 the General Assembly named him a member emeritus of its Committee on Contributions after twenty-seven consecutive years as chairman. He died in March 1997. ^{1, 4, 5}