WTO Director-General Designate To Speak At Baylor
Supachai Panitchpakdi, director-general designate of the World Trade Organization (WTO), will speak at Baylor University Friday, April 26, on ?The Future of World Trade.?
by Alan Hunt
Supachai Panitchpakdi, director-general designate of the World Trade Organization (WTO), will speak at Baylor University Friday, April 26, on "The Future of World Trade."
His talk, which is part of the Ben H. Williams Distinguished Speakers Series, is scheduled for noon to 1:30 p.m. during a luncheon on the fifth floor of the Cashion Academic Building at the Hankamer School of Business. The program will be attended by Central Texas community and business leaders.
He also will speak to students in Kayser Auditorium from 11 to 11:50 a.m., and at 2:30 p.m. he will open a Thai Culture Exhibit at Moody Library, hosted by Kathryn S. Mueller, senior lecturer in sociology and director of the Baylor in Thailand program.
Dr. Supachai will serve a three-year term as director-general of the WTO, beginning Sept. 1. Previously, he served as deputy prime minister and minister of commerce for Thailand. Between 1997 and 2001, he drafted Thailand's major economic policies, relaxed restrictions on foreign participation and ownership, revised the alien business law and aligned the country's accounting standards with international practices. The Bangkok native has been actively involved in international trade for many years.
Beginning his professional career 28 years ago at the Bank of Thailand, he holds a master's degree in econometrics and development planning and a doctorate in economic planning and development -- both from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He also has been a visiting fellow at Cambridge University where he worked on his development planning models.
The Ben H. Williams Distinguished Speakers Series honors the memory of Ben Williams, who was a member of the 1923 charter class of Baylor's School of Commerce and Business Administration -- today's Hankamer School of Business. An Outstanding Alumnus of Baylor and a trustee of the university, Williams endowed a fellowship in 1953 that today funds five separate professorships at Baylor.
For more information, call 710-6190.