Preecha expected to come into his own
Published on August 04, 2005 - Not long ago, reporters on the Foreign Ministry beat were surprised to have boxes of longans delivered to them at work with the note attached, “With compliments from Deputy Foreign Minister Preecha Laohapongchana.”
The gesture was meant to boost the government’s domestic campaign to promote the oversupplied fruit. Certainly it also reminded journalists of a deputy foreign minister who had languished largely unnoticed by the media since he took office in March.
No one at the Foreign Ministry and no ministry watcher in the media is now surprised that Preecha has been reassigned as the new deputy commerce minister, the position he has held de facto since the resignation of gas tycoon Suriya Lapwisuthisin early last month.
When Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon took office four months ago, he asserted that Preecha, his deputy, would be able to come into his own at the ministry. Yet in the ensuing months, as the Foreign Ministry essentially became a one-man show, and Preecha had little room left to shine.
He had little room but not entirely empty space, though. In accordance with the government’s “Look West” policy, Kantathi assigned Preecha the task of putting out feelers for closer economic cooperation with emerging markets in Africa and Latin America. His assignment showcased the heightened role of sales diplomacy that PM Thaksin Shinawatra envisages for the Foreign Ministry.
Largely away from the glare of publicity, Preecha set about his task with zest. After his assignment, he met reporters at the ministry and assured them that that his strong background in business coupled with long experience in politics – he has twice served as deputy industry minister – would serve him well in his new task. He promised to work hard to promote Thai trade and investment abroad.
Preecha met several Thai and foreign industrialists, including Lu Ming, commercial manager of Parkshop, a trading company with more than 300 branches in China and Hong Kong. Preecha also visited China on April 27 to meet Chinese Deputy Commerce Minister An Ming, whom he urged to facilitate increased fruit and vegetable imports from Thailand.
A week later, he lobbied his Mongolian counterpart Auirmed Battur to import pickup trucks made in Thailand. In May, he visited Singapore to address problems of Thai labour there. He would then shortly be in Laos to discuss increased cooperation on tourism.
He led a group of Thai businesspeople on a visit to Poland to explore opportunities, before heading up a mission to Kenya and Uganda to advocate the government’s Look West policy of seeking new markets for Thai products.
Thaksin might also have appreciated Preecha’s salesmanship on behalf of the government’s One Tambon, One Product policy, even though as deputy foreign minister he had little chance to engage in that project.
Preecha and Kantathi came to office when Thailand was badly in need of skilled diplomats to repair the damage done to the country’s international reputation following heavy-handed crackdowns by the authorities in the deep South.
The international environment dominated by the issues of terrorism and stepped-up security cooperation among nations left little room for an economy-oriented diplomat like Preecha.
Therefore, Preecha will surely have more leeway to come into his own as deputy commerce minister.
Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
