Mirza's appointment as CCP chairman notified

The finance ministry has notified appointment of chairman and members of the newly-established Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) from October 2, 2007.
According to a notification issued on Monday, the government has appointed Khalid Aziz Mirza, as chairman of Competition Commission and its members included Abdul Ghaffar; Ms Rahat Kaunain Hassan; Dr Joseph Wilson and Ms Maleeha Mimi Bangash.
The Commission has convened its first meeting to review the new policy for implementation of the new rules/regulation. The meeting chaired by Khalid Aziz Mirza discussed the medium and long-term plans under the Competition Ordinance, 2007.
The administrative and logistic issues were discussed during the first meeting. It also appointed Hayat Muhammad Jasra as Secretary for the Commission and resolutions were passed for opening of bank accounts of the Commission, staff recruitment, and other administrative issues.
The Commission has now become fully functional and other staff would be appointed/hired in due course of time. Sources said the Commission has asked the government for providing funding for meeting day-to-day expenses under section 20 of the new Ordinance.
The Commission has estimated an expenditure of around $8 million for the next three years. The World Bank (WB) is likely to provide an amount of $6-6.5 million for capacity building, staff training, foreign training, infrastructure development and other reforms within the Commission. The remaining amount would be arranged by the government.
Sources said some of the cases framed under the previous law would be withdrawn under the new Ordinance, whereas other cases would be dealt with under the new rules and regulations. The transition period would be of 6-8 months for making Commission fully functional.
It is important to mention that Khalid Mirza has worked on key financial positions with international banking and non-banking organisations, including investment banks ie Investment Corporation of Pakistan; United Kingdom (Credit & Finance Corporation); International Finance Corporation; SECP chairman, sector manager, financial/private sector development, East Asia and Pacific, World Bank and was working as chairman MCA from July 2006 to date.