ADB appoints new country director for Pakistan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed Xiaoqin (Emma) Fan as its new Country Director for Pakistan.

As Country Director, Ms. Fan will oversee ADB’s operations in Pakistan, including the implementation of the country partnership strategy (CPS) that prioritizes lifting growth, increasing resilience, and boosting competitiveness, said ADB press release issued here.

She will also lead the consultation for the new CPS covering the period from 2026 to 2030, it added.

“I am delighted to be back in Pakistan to lead the country office. I look forward to promoting ADB’s longstanding partnership with the government and people of Pakistan,” said Ms. Fan.

“ADB will continue to work closely with Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments, the private sector, and other stakeholders to speed-up economic recovery, implement reforms, and champion policies and development processes to create jobs. We’ll scale up our support for climate resilience, private sector development, and institutional development; and we will continue to foster livable cities, rural development, digital ecosystems, growth centers, and regional cooperation and integration,” she added.

Ms. Fan joined ADB in June 2002 as an Economist, and since then has held positions of increasing responsibility in various departments across the bank. In December 2013, she was appointed as Advisor for ADB’s Strategic Planning Department (SPD) and the Head of its Results Management Unit. In June 2016, she was appointed as the Regional Director of ADB’s Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office (PLCO) and in 2019 as Director for Public Management, Financial Sector, and Regional Cooperation Division of the East Asia Department.

Following the introduction of ADB’s New Operating Model in June 2023, Ms. Fan was redesignated as Director, Finance in Sector Group-Finance, where she had been successfully building the pipeline for the finance sector, strategically leading the sovereign-non-sovereign collaborations involving multiple ADB corporative initiatives. As Country Director for Pakistan, Ms. Fan succeeds Yong Ye who held the post from 2021.

Prior to joining ADB, Ms. Fan worked as a Policy Adviser at the Department of Finance and Administration in Australia, an Economist at the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research in New Zealand, and a Researcher at Lanzhou University in the PRC.