Supachai Panitchpakdi
Supachai Panitchpakdi (
Thai: ศุภชัย พานิชภักดิ์, born
1946 in
Bangkok,
Thailand) is the new Secretary General of the
UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Prior to this, he was the Director-General of the
World Trade Organization from
September 1 2002 to
September 1 2005. He was succeeded by
Pascal Lamy.
In
1986 Supachai Panitchpakdi was appointed as Thailand's Deputy Minister of Finance, but when the parliament was dissolved in
1988 he left politics and became president of the Thai Military Bank. In
1992 he returned to politics and became Deputy Prime Minister until
1995, responsible for trade and economics. During the
Asian financial crisis in November
1997 he returned to be Deputy Prime Minister and also became Minister of Commerce.
In September
1999 he was elected to become director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), sharing the post with competitor
Mike Moore when a decision could not be reached. Taking the second half of the six year term, he entered office on September 1, 2002.
In March
2005 he was appointed to become the secretary-general of the
UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) following his term at the WTO, a post he took up in late 2005. Keen to reform and revitalise the organisation, he has established a Panel of Eminent Persons to oversee the start of reform of UNCTAD.
*
Biography at WTO*
Biography at Asian Speakers Bureau
