Apichart gets nod for new top job

His first post as a Thai ambassador was in Stockholm in 2005. So he has experience in many international assignments. 

Before becoming an ambassador, Apichart’s first posting was as minister counsellor to the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva in 1995, where he was given responsibility to cover humanitarian affairs and human rights. 

His early experience related to human rights and humanitarian affairs. He was assigned to follow the work of the Commission of Human Rights and its subcommittee and working groups, plus the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Organisation for Migration.

At the Foreign Ministry, Apichart worked as director-general of Department of East Asian Affairs for two years, responsible for bilateral relations with Thailand’s neighbours such as Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar, as well as countries in Southeast and Northeast Asia such as China, Japan and South Korea.

Apichart has a solid educational background for his diplomatic career. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and politics from the University of Southampton, a master’s in international relations from the University of London, and a doctoral degree in international relations from the University of Oxford. 

He spent more than 10 years studying in the United Kingdom. 

Born on September 1, 1956, Apichart joined the Foreign Ministry in 1985 and was initially in the East Asia Division, in the Department of Political Affairs.