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| The Surayud Cabinet |
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Deputy
Prime Minister and Industry Minister:
Kosit Panpiemras
With a life-long interest in rural development,
Kosit, the new interim deputy prime minister
and industry minister, has been a long-time
confidant of Privy Councillor General Prem
Tinsulanonda. He brings a knowledge of how
to drive the rural economy to the interim
government.
His skills at the highest national level have
been built up over the years. Kosit was finance
minister briefly in the Suchinda Kraprayoon
government following the military coup against
the Chatichai Choonhavan government in 1991
and agriculture minister in June 1992, where
he put to work his plans for developing rural
Thailand.
He has spent most of his career at the National
Economic and Social Development Board, where
he rose to the position of deputy secretary-general
in 1986. He has four outstanding features.
First, he is honest, credible and much sought-after
as a policy-maker. Second, he is far-sighted,
being the first economist to predict the 1997
financial crisis. Third, his experience at
Bangkok Bank may provide a good platform for
exploiting all mechanisms for giving rural
Thailand a sustained economic boost. Fourth,
he speaks his mind.
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