The Hon. Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi

(7th Director-General of the World Trade Organization

Biography

The Hon. Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi was the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 1999 to 2005, and then Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 2005 to 2013.

Academic Career

The Hon. Panitchpakdi obtained a Master’s degree in Economics, Development Planning and a Ph.D. in Economic Planning and Development at the Netherlands School of Economics (now Erasmus University in Rotterdam). His doctoral dissertation was supervised by Professor Jan Tinbergen, the first Nobel laureate in economics. 

Political Career

In 1986 Supachai Panitchpakdi was appointed as Thailand’s Deputy Minister of Finance, but he resigned in 1988 to become president of the Thai Military Bank. In 1992 Mr. Panitchpakdi returned to politics and became Deputy Prime Minister, post he held for the first term until 1995, and again from 1997, being also appointed as Minister of Commerce.

Following his position as Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Mr. Panitchpakdi was appointed to become the Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 2005.

Supachai Panitchpakd then was appointed for a second four-year term in 2009. While serving in this position, he has established a Panel of Eminent Persons to oversee the start of reform of UNCTAD.

Publications

The Hon. Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi has published numerous books, including Educational Growth in Developing Countries (1974), Globalization and Trade in the New Millennium (2001) and China and the WTO: Changing China, Changing World Trade (2002, co-authored with Mark Clifford).

Keynote Address

The Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy (Berlin; November 8th, 2014)