Dr. Manzoor Ahmad

International Trade and Customs Facilitation Expert

About Dr. Manzoor Ahmad

Former Pakistan Ambassador to the WTO. Fifty years inside the rooms where trade rules get written.

Short bio

Dr. Manzoor Ahmad has spent more than fifty years on trade. He represented Pakistan at the World Trade Organization as Ambassador, chaired WTO councils and dispute panels, ran customs reform inside Pakistan's own government, and now advises governments and companies on how to compete under rules most people never read. Based in Islamabad. Works worldwide.

Full profile

Trade rules decide who gets rich and who stays poor. Most people never see them being made. I have spent fifty years in those rooms.

I started in Pakistan Customs in 1973. Since then I have argued Pakistan's case at the World Trade Organization as our Ambassador, chaired WTO councils, judged disputes between other countries as a panel chairman, and sat on our negotiating teams across South Asia and Central Asia at SAARC and ECO.

I have also run reform from the inside. As Member Customs at the Federal Board of Revenue, I led tariff and trade facilitation changes in Pakistan. I know the difference between a good idea and one that will actually move through a government.

That mix is unusual. Most trade experts have either the international experience or the domestic reform experience. I have both, and they teach very different lessons.

What I help with

Reading a trade agreement properly and finding what is actually in it for you
Getting real value out of GSP Plus and other trade preferences you already qualify for
Tariff reform, customs process and the hidden costs slowing your exporters down
Preparing negotiating teams before they face a counterpart who does this full time
WTO rules, disputes and what a ruling elsewhere means for you
Explaining to a board or a cabinet, in plain words, what is coming and what to do about it

Who I work with

Governments and ministries. Chambers and industry associations. Companies that export or depend on imports. Banks and funds with money exposed to trade flows. Universities and executive programmes.

How I work

I speak plainly. No jargon, no theory for its own sake. If your position is weak I will tell you, because you would rather hear it from me than find out across a negotiating table.

I also say uncomfortable things about domestic policy. Protection handed to a few connected firms raises costs for every other business in a country. If that subject is off limits, I am probably not the right advisor.

Background

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the World Trade Organization
Chairman, WTO Council on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights, Special Session
Chairman, WTO Committee on Balance of Payments Restrictions
Chairman and panellist, WTO dispute panels, including one running now
Director, Food and Agriculture Organization Liaison Office to the United Nations, Geneva
Member Customs, Federal Board of Revenue, Islamabad
Deputy Director, World Customs Organization, Brussels
Member and leader of Pakistan's negotiating teams at SAARC and ECO
Chairman, Board of Directors, Pakistan LNG Limited
Senior Fellow, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics
Advisor, Institute for Policy Reforms. Former Chairman, PRIME. Former advisor, Global Social Observatory, Geneva

I write a regular column on trade and the economy for The Express Tribune and Dawn. Those columns became my book Poverty to Prosperity, which looks at how Ireland, Chile, Vietnam, Mauritius and India moved from poor to prosperous, and why so many others did not.

Based in Islamabad. Available worldwide, in person or online.

1:1 Sessions

Poverty to Prosperity - High-Speed Trade Diagnostics & Market Assessment
60 min
A high-impact, 60-minute rapid diagnostic session designed for macro investors, policy shapers, and enterprise exporters.
In this targeted window, we will cut through bureaucratic noise to isolate your immediate fiscal or trade friction point.
Whether evaluating a cross-border supply chain disruption, assessing tariff barriers, or parsing recent government budget adjustments, you will walk away with an immediate, objective strategic pivot.
You can ask me anything and I will bring in my five decades of experience to your country or organisation potentially creating wealth for millions of your citizens within an hour of strategy.
$250