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Published on August 30, 2007

The trio are the directors-general of three departments within the ministry: Rachane Potjanasuntorn of the Export Promotion Department, Siripol Yodmuangcharoen of the Internal Trade Department and Apiradi Tantraporn of the Foreign Trade Department.

If Apiradi is appointed, she will be the first-ever female permanent secretary of a ministry which oversees internal and external trade, international trade negotiations, and domestic trade regulations.

The three contenders all have weaknesses and strengths. For instance, Rachane is well-versed in international trade, even though he has yet to prove his expertise in the domestic arena. Siripol is the opposite.

Apiradi, meanwhile, is known to be a shrewd trade negotiator, but she is seen by some observers as not having enough experience involving power plays within the government.

Karun decided to quit one year ahead of his official retirement age, as he has reached the term limit for a permanent secretary. His tenure has been extended twice, meaning he has been the Commerce Ministry's permanent secretary for six years.

Karun has yet to reveal his plans after retirement, saying that he would take a break before deciding what to do next. He has shown no interest in joining politics as yet. But he said people would see him around for the first few months after his retirement, as he also serves as a member of the National Legislative Assembly.

Correction

An article appearing on page 1B of The Nation yesterday quoted Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn as saying "it will be impossible for the government to repay the debt that it owed the Financial Institutions Development Fund [FIDF] within the next 30 years".

In fact, the government does not owe money to the FIDF but is responsible for absorbing the losses incurred by the institu-tion, which is the financial arm of the Bank of Thailand set up to rescue troubled financial institutions affected by the economic crisis in 1997.

We apologise for any misunderstanding caused by this error.