UPDATES FRom THE ROAd
THE ROUTE
1 year, 1 man, 1 hell of a journey
THE MAN
About SAAD Bashir…
Saad Bashir
Experience (Saad Bashir):
Recently graduated from Georgetown University, I've been specialized in energy/infrastructure development and the China BRI since 2015. Past work experiences relevant to these topics include a certificate from the Baku Summer Energy School at ADA University in Azerbaijan, working at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC, the Kyrgyzstan Investment and Credit Bank in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States in Washington, DC (at which I compiled the Chinese project funding database for 2018). I'm currently also in the process of being CAPM certified to further develop my understanding of project management and finance. Coming from a infrastructure and energy background, I’m confident that my experience allows me to provide an economic development angle at BRI projects whereas most discussions end up through a political, security, or anthropological lens.
With this ambitious route and timeline, it’s important to also mention my own travel and cultural experiences. I, myself, am a Pakistani-American who understands how social and political discussions happen within most of Asia. Being from Asia, I also have the opportunity to develop networks and incite discussions that are less common with those from a European background. I additionally was a linguistics minor, providing me with language skills in Russian, Persian, Arabic, and Hindi/Urdu. These language skills can easily provide more access to information outside the scope of just English. Finally, I’m an experienced traveler who has already completed trips of similar difficulties, all of which I travel almost entirely overland. These include 3 different month long trips: Southern Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Abkhazia, Armenia), Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan), East Africa (Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya). Two of these trips have already allowed me the chances to see and make connections on the ground in some of the countries of this expedition.