shahid javed burki has graduate degrees in physics and economics from Punjab, Oxford, and Harvard universities. He went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and to Harvard as a Mason Fellow. Burki joined the Civil Service of Pakistan in 1960. His assignments in Pakistan included chief economist of West Pakistan, and economic advisor, Ministry of Commerce, Government of Pakistan. He also worked as a senior research fellow at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs and the Harvard Institute for International Development. Burki joined the World Bank in 1974. Among the positions he held at the World Bank were director of the China Department and vice president of Latin America and the Caribbean. In 1997-98 he returned to Pakistan to serve as minister in charge of finance planning and economic affairs in the interim government. Burki has written several books on China, Pakistan, and human development.