Abu Reza

Abu Reza obtained national experience, after studies in DhakaUniversity, obtaining his B.A. with Honors (1964) and M.A. (1965) in Economics; he served as Chief of Transport Survey Project in the Planning Commission of Bangladesh.  Subsequently, he studied in the U.K. at LeedsUniversity, obtaining an M.A.(1974) in Transport Economics, and following it up with a Ph.D. (1977) in Economics from the University of Leicester.

He has vast international experience, initially with UNCTAD (1978-1981), based in Kabul, seeking to facilitate the landlocked country’s transit needs across the neighboring countries of Iran, Pakistan and the (former) Soviet Union. Subsequently, he worked for about a quarter of a century for international development financing institutions. Initially with the World Bank (WB), during 1981-1983, as its Economic Adviser (Transport Economist), he participated with a team implementing WB’s macro-economic adjustment program for drought stricken Kenya. Then he went to work for the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), during 1983-2005, as a Senior Economist. The work entailed project preparation, supervision, and implementation monitoring. Although primarily concerned with the infrastructure sector, it also extended to health and education sector projects. The work experience spread over the IDB member countries, in Africa, South East Asia, and West and Central Asia. During 2002-2005, he represented IDB in the Management Committee of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), together with ADB, UNDP and the WB  as its Administrator. This required fund raising for Afghanistan, attending ministerial level donor conferences, held in Oslo, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Geneva and Kabul. During 2006 and 2009, he was hired by the ADB/DFID, to go back toAfghanistan as an Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, helping out in the formulation of a development budget based on hands-on training for the Operating Ministries. During the later part of his experience, Abu Reza covered all sectors including higher education. He appraised projects, such as, the National University of Science and Technology in Pakistan, Middle East Technical University in Turkey, and Science and Technology University in Iran.