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Aamer Sarfraz, Baron Sarfraz

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Sarfraz
عامر احمد سرفراز
Official portrait, 2023
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
28 September 2020
Life Peerage
Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Singapore
Incumbent
Assumed office
12 January 2022
Personal details
Born
Aamer Ahmad Sarfraz

(1981-09-25) 25 September 1981 (age 43)
London
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
SpouseMaryam Sayeed Sarfraz
Alma materBoston University
London School of Economics

Aamer Ahmad Sarfraz, Baron Sarfraz (Urdu: عامر احمد سرفراز; born 25 September 1981) is a British-Pakistani businessman and politician. He was previously a Conservative Party Treasurer, before being nominated for a life peerage by Boris Johnson in the 2019 Dissolution Honours List.[1]

Background

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Sarfraz was born on 25 September 1981 to a Pakistani Muslim family in London. He grew up in Islamabad and migrated to the United Kingdom in 2002. He is a graduate of Boston University, the London School of Economics,[2] and the Royal College of Defence Studies.[3]

Business career

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Sarfraz is the founder of NetZeroAg,[4] an agriculture business working with smallholder farmers in Asia. Sarfraz was previously a managing director at The Electrum Group, a private equity firm, and a Venture Partner at Draper Associates, an early-stage technology venture capital firm.[5]

Conservative Party fundraising

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As a Conservative Party Treasurer, Sarfraz chaired the Business and Entrepreneurs' Forum, described as 'a network of business leaders that support the Conservative Party', charging £3,000 a year for membership.[6]

Since 2018, he has donated £172,500 to the Conservative Party.[7]

Philanthropy

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Sarfraz established The Lord Sarfraz Foundation, which predominantly works with underprivileged communities in Pakistan.[8] The Sarfraz Lecture is held annually at Wolfson College Oxford focusing on the history and culture of Pakistan.[9]

House of Lords

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Sarfraz was nominated to the House of Lords on 31 July 2020,[10] and was created Baron Sarfraz, of Kensington in the Royal London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on 8 September 2020.[11] Sarfraz took his seat in the House of Lords on 28 September 2020, and delivered his maiden speech on 19 October 2020.[12] Sarfraz stated that improving relations between Pakistan and the United Kingdom would be a fundamental part of his new work.[13]

Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy

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In January 2022, he was appointed as the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Singapore.[14]

Committee Appointments

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Since January 2021, Sarfraz has been a member of the Science and Technology Committee.[15]

Since March 2023, he has been a member of the AI in Weapon Systems Committee,[16] and since June 2023, a member of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS).[17]

Advocacy

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In October 2020, Sarfraz praised the UK government's support for Rohingya Muslims, and called on it to redouble its humanitarian efforts to support religious minorities around the world.[18]

Lord Sarfraz called on the newly established UK Infrastructure Bank to invest directly in companies and “do the difficult direct deals, not outsource their responsibilities to third party fund managers".[19] He has advocated for the launch of a UK Central Bank Digital Currency and for the Chief Executive of the FCA to issue guidance to the crypto industry.[20]

Lord Sarfraz criticised the IMF's strict conditionality on developing countries and said that the UK should use its influence “to ensure the IMF is offering loan terms that countries can accept” and that the IMF “needs to take a radically new approach to its lending practices”.[21]

Sarfraz has called on the UK government to increase support for the alternative proteins sector and in 2022 launched the UK's Alternative Proteins Association.[22]

Arms

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Coat of arms of Aamer Sarfraz, Baron Sarfraz
Crest
The top of a mountain per fess lowered indented Argent and Vert ensigned by a decresent Or.
Escutcheon
Per pale Argent and Or issuant in base a representation of the Dome of the Prophet’s Mosque at Medina Proper in chief four roses two and two Gules barbed and seeded Proper.[23]
Supporters
Dexter a lion Or sinister a snow leopard Argent spotted Sable.
Motto
Faith, Service

Sarfraz was granted a coat of arms with a baronial coronet by the College of Arms. His shield contains a depiction of the dome of The Prophet's Mosque in Medina, the first such instance in English heraldry. He was also granted heraldic supporters: a lion for the United Kingdom and a snow leopard for Pakistan. His crest features snow-topped mountains in reference to Islamabad, topped by an Islamic crescent.[24]

His motto is "Faith Service".[25]

References

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  1. ^ "Dissolution Peerages 2019" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Queen appoints British-Pakistani Aamer Sarfraz as House of Lords member". The Express Tribune (Pakistan). 5 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Lord Sarfraz". Lord Sarfraz. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  4. ^ "NetZeroAg". NetZeroAg. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  5. ^ "A Pair of Silicon Valley Venture Veterans Eye SPACs as a Way to Sidestep IPOs". The Street. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Inside the elite Tory fundraising machine". Open Democracy. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Electoral Commission". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  8. ^ "The Lord Sarfraz Foundation". LordSarfraz.org. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  9. ^ "The Sarfraz Lecture". Wolfson College. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  10. ^ "Dissolution Peerages 2019" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Crown Office". The London Gazette. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Hansard". UK Parliament. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  13. ^ "Queen appoints British-Pakistani Aamer Sarfraz as House of Lords member". The Express Tribune (Pakistan). 5 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  14. ^ "UK Parliament". Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  15. ^ "UK Parliament". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  16. ^ "UK Parliament". Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  17. ^ "UK Parliament". Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  18. ^ "We can't rest in our support for the Rohingya Muslims". The Times). 22 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  19. ^ "UK Infrastructure Bank criticised for investing in third party funds". The Financial Times. 29 May 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  20. ^ "EU seeks to prevent use of crypto to avoid Russia sanctions". The Financial Times. 2 March 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  21. ^ "Next PM should prioritise IMF reform or risk ceding the floor to rivals". Politics Home. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  22. ^ "The growing appetite for alternative proteins". Politics Home. 24 November 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  23. ^ "April 2024 Newsletter (no. 75)". College of Arms. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  24. ^ "UK grants first-ever official 'Coat of Arms' featuring 'Green Dome'". Associated Press of Pakistan. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  25. ^ "Coat of Arms". The Lord Sarfraz. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Sarfraz 		Followed by
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