Manmohan Singh my economic guru: Pak PM-designate

Pakistan prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz has described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his 'economic guru' at a lunch hosted by President Gen Pervez Musharraf in honour of visiting SAARC foreign ministers, including External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, in Islamabad on Wednesday.

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The former banker, who spent most of his professional life in the US before Musharraf handpicked him for the job of finance minister after seizing power in October 1999, is said to be impressed with Manmohan Singh's economic acumen and his ideas on liberalisation.

Aziz, now a member of the Pakistani senate, is contesting a by-election to the national assembly that would pave the way for his becoming the prime minister. He will take over from Shujaat Hussain, who was made interim prime minister after Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali quit the post in June.