Phongpob Ben Methakullawat

Phongpob (Ben) Methakullawat is an economist with a diplomatic background and extensive experience in regional integration, trade, investment, and development cooperation. He began his career as a diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

He served as an economist at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, where he worked on key economic integration initiatives, and as National Project Coordinator for the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Bangkok, managing an EU-funded on competition policy, public procurement and organic agriculture, supporting greater connectivity and economic integration between Thailand and ASEAN.

His diplomatic assignments include a posting in Jakarta where he worked on development cooperation between Thailand and Indonesia, and a leadership role at the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) as Head of TICA-UN Coordination, where he oversaw partnerships with UN agencies in Thailand, and spearheaded South-South cooperation projects with countries in Latin America and South Asia.

Ben holds a PhD and master's degrees in economics from the Australian National University (ANU) and an honours degree from University of Melbourne.