Pakistan Assumes G-24 Chairmanship: Aurangzeb Sets Three Priorities for Developing Nations

Islamabad, November 1, 2026 — Pakistan on Sunday assumed the chairmanship of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four (G-24), the bloc of developing countries that coordinates their positions at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb setting out three priorities for the chairmanship year: putting development at the centre of global economic policymaking, giving developing economies a stronger and fairer say in multilateral institutions, and reforming the international financial architecture.

The handover was announced by the Finance Division on November 1, with Aurangzeb describing the role as a profound responsibility and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif calling it a significant diplomatic milestone recognising Pakistan’s effective role on the global economic stage. Pakistan takes over from Nigeria, the outgoing chair, and will now speak for the bloc’s collective voice in the world’s most important economic forums.

Key facts: Pakistan assumes the G-24 chairmanship

What the G-24 is — and why the chair matters

The G-24’s name is historic — it began as a group of 24 — but its membership today stands at 28 developing nations spanning Asia, Africa and Latin America, including India, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, South Africa and Sri Lanka alongside Pakistan. Its job is practical, not ceremonial: member countries agree common positions on monetary and development questions so that, when the IMF and World Bank make decisions, developing economies negotiate as a bloc rather than one by one.

That is why the chairmanship carries weight beyond the title. The chair sets the agenda, frames the bloc’s communiques and leads its engagement with the IMF and World Bank during the year. For Pakistan, holding the chair means its finance ministry is, for this year, the convenor of the developing world’s collective voice in global finance.

Aurangzeb’s three priorities, explained

1. Development at the centre of policymaking. Aurangzeb’s first priority is that global economic decisions should be judged by what they do for development — jobs, growth and living standards in developing countries — rather than by financial stability alone. In the ministry’s words, Pakistan will push for a more responsive, fair and development-oriented international financial system.

2. Fairer representation in multilateral institutions. The second priority is that developing countries should have a greater say in the institutions that set the rules — meaningful participation in decision-making and a bigger role in shaping policies that affect their economies. This is the G-24’s oldest demand, and it goes to the heart of how votes and influence are shared at the IMF and World Bank.

3. Reform of the international financial architecture. The third priority ties the first two together: reforming the system itself so it responds better to the pressures developing economies actually face. Aurangzeb named three of those pressures directly — climate shocks, development financing gaps and global economic fragmentation — and called for renewed international cooperation, stronger multilateral institutions and reinforced global commitments to address them.

What Pakistan’s leaders said

In the Finance Division statement, Aurangzeb described the chairmanship as a profound responsibility and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to strengthening the collective voice of developing economies. He also acknowledged Nigeria’s leadership as outgoing chair and pledged to build on the group’s progress.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, praised Aurangzeb and the Finance Ministry team for their tireless efforts and effective diplomacy, and described the chairmanship as a significant diplomatic milestone recognising Pakistan’s role on the global economic stage. The handover completes a process set in motion at the G-24 ministerial meeting in Bangkok in October, where Aurangzeb, then first vice-chair, set out the same three priorities.

What this means for ordinary Pakistanis

A chairmanship does not change interest rates, taxes or prices by itself, and readers should be wary of any claim that it does. What it does change is Pakistan’s seat at the table where the rules of global finance are argued over — the rules that shape how much development finance flows to countries like Pakistan, how debt is treated when climate disasters strike, and how much say borrowing countries get in the institutions they borrow from.

Those questions matter directly to Pakistan: a country facing climate shocks, financing gaps and the need for sustained development spending has a concrete interest in a system that weighs development outcomes alongside creditor concerns. The chairmanship year gives Pakistan a formal platform to press that case, backed by the collective weight of 28 developing nations rather than its voice alone.

The test of the year will be the bloc’s communiques — the G-24 publishes them after its ministerial meetings, with the spring meetings the next opportunity — and whether Pakistan’s three priorities survive into agreed positions that the IMF and World Bank actually act on. For more on the economic team behind this agenda, see Aurangzeb’s privatisation proceeds plan, our report on Oman’s foreign minister’s visit to Islamabad, and the petrol price tracker for the domestic cost pressures shaping the same economic debate.

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