Ex-US banker to become Pakistan premier

[Nambe]

Reuters

ISLAMABAD Aug 19 - Plucked from Citibank in New York to become finance minister after a 1999 military coup in Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz is just days away from becoming the 23rd prime minister of the turbulent South Asian nation.

The urbane former banker, 55, got a taste of the challenges ahead when he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that killed his driver and eight others as he campaigned for a seat in the lower house of parliament on July 30.

Undeterred, Aziz won his seat on Wednesday by a big margin, clearing the way for him to become prime minister next week. ..

Aziz was born in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi after his family migrated from India's Punjab state at the time of the sub-continent's partition in 1947.

A graduate from Karachi University's Institute of Business Administration, Aziz joined Citibank in Pakistan in 1969. He was head of its global private banking arm when he returned to Pakistan in 1999.

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1. Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz escorts Pakistani Minister of Finance Shaukat A

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz (right) escorts Pakistani Minister of Finance Shaukat Aziz through an honor cordon and into the Pentagon on April 15, 2003. Wolfowitz and Aziz will meet to discuss regional items of interest to both nations. DoD photo by Helene C. Stikkel. (Released)
http://www.defenselink.mil/photos/Apr2003/030415-D-2987S-003.html