Muhammad Asif Noor

Muhammad Asif Noor Farooqi is the Founder and Director of the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies (IPDS) and Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of the Diplomatic Insight Group, a senior academic practitioner and public diplomacy scholar with more than two decades of experience across international relations, strategic studies, academic diplomacy and regional connectivity. His work integrates theory, policy analysis and institutional practice, with a sustained focus on Pakistan-China relations, the Belt and Road Initiative, CPEC, South Asia, Central Asia and Eurasia, public diplomacy, media and narrative power, and think tank cooperation.

He has founded and led multiple academic and policy platforms connecting universities, diplomatic missions, scholars and policy communities across South Asia, Central Asia and China: the Pakistan-SCO Friendship Forum, the Friends of BRI Forum, the Alliance of China-Pakistan Research Centers (co-founder), the International Forum for Pakistani Columnists and Anchors, and the Azerbaijan-Pakistan Youth Society. He has been Editor-in-Chief of The Diplomatic Insight since 2009 and Patron-in-Chief of the Journal of Peace and Diplomacy since 2020, and founded and leads the International Young Diplomats School (since 2016), delivering training on diplomacy, negotiation, multilateralism and global governance and mentoring early-career scholars and researchers.

He chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Pakistan-China Commerce Alliance International (PCCAI), serves as Deputy Chairman of the Pakistan-Brazil Business Council under the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), and is a Goodwill Ambassador of the Vehari Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He lectures at leading universities across Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia, Russia, China and Europe, and has led business and academic delegations from Pakistan to the Central Asian Republics and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's member countries.

An acclaimed author, he has written and co-authored several books on Pakistan's bilateral relations and regularly briefs Ministries of Foreign Affairs, embassies, and national and international media on foreign policy and security issues. He holds a Master of Science in Defence and Strategic Studies from Quaid-i-Azam University, a Master of Arts in Pakistan Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Geography from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, along with diplomas in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Studies and Contemporary Diplomacy and International Relations.