Santi confident FTI will back chosen successor

"He has worked for the FTI for many years and his performance has been accepted by our members," Santi said yesterday.

Santi, who will retire as FTI chairman next March, said he was confident the majority of the federation's members would support Payungsak to take the reins.

Payungsak, 57, is currently executive vice president of Siam United Steel, which is a joint venture between Siam Cement Group and foreign steelmakers such as Nippon Steel and Posco Steel.

He has worked for the FTI as its vice chairman and chairman of the Steel Industry Club for about eight years.

"This world has no boundaries for competition, so what I plan to do is to strengthen our industrial competitiveness, particularly that of small and medium-sized manufacturers and provincial manufacturers," Payungsak said yesterday.

"The supply chain is necessary for Thai industry. We have been talking about this for a long time but we have not succeeded yet, so we will also steer this project aggressively," he said.

The FTI has 39 industry clubs, with plans for seven more soon.