Supachai Panitchpakdi

Supachai Panitchpakdi
7th Director-General of the World Trade Organization
In office 1 September 2002 – 1 September 2005
Preceded by	Mike Moore
Succeeded by	Pascal Lamy
Personal details
Born	(1946-05-30) 30 May 1946 Bangkok, Thailand
Nationality	Thai
Religion	Christian

Supachai Panitchpakdi (Thai: ศุภชัย พานิชภักดิ์, rtgs: Supphachai Phanitchaphak; born May 30, 1946 in Bangkok, Thailand) was Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 1 September 2005 to 31 August 2013. 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. He was appointed for a second four-year term in September 2009. Keen to reform and revitalise the organisation, he has established a Panel of Eminent Persons to oversee the start of reform of UNCTAD.

Supachai received his master's degree in Economics, Development Planning and his Ph.D. in Economic Planning and Development at the Netherlands School of Economics (now known as Erasmus University in Rotterdam). In 1973, he completed his doctoral dissertation under supervision of Professor Jan Tinbergen, the first Nobel laureate in economics. In the same year, he went to Cambridge University as a visiting fellow to conduct research on development models.

He 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).

External links

• UNCTAD - Secretary-General's Office
• UNCTAD - Secretary-General's Biography
• UNDT judgment UNDT/2012/136
• Biography at WTO

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Mike Moore	Director-General of the World Trade Organization 2002–2005	Succeeded by Pascal Lamy
Preceded by Carlos Fortin	Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 1 September 2005–present	Succeeded by Mukhisa Kituyi