Pan Sorasak
Pan Sorasak | |
|---|---|
| ប៉ាន សូរស័ក្ដិ | |
.jpg) | |
| Minister of Commerce | |
| In office 2 April 2016 – 21 August 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Hun Sen |
| Preceded by | Sun Chanthol |
| Succeeded by | Cham Nimul |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 October 1955 Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia |
| Political party | Cambodian People's Party |
Pan Sorasak (Khmer: ប៉ាន សូរស័ក្តិ; born 30 October 1955) was Minister of Commerce of the Royal Government of Cambodia from 2016 to 2023. He was re-appointed to this position in September 2018 for the 6th legislature, having served in the same position during the 5th legislature when he was appointed in April 2016.[1][2][3]
Career[edit]
Secretary of State[edit]
Since 2008, he was Secretary of State (Vice Minister) at the Ministry of Commerce, and he was responsible for the Strategic Trade Policy and International Trade Cooperation. He also led a task force among others, on the ratification of Cambodia’s Trade Facilitation Agreement for the WTO’s Bali Package (2013-2016).
Under his leadership, the Ministry of Commerce has pushed for the finalization of many draft laws and various amendments including consumer protection, food safety, competition, secured transaction and trade remedy. He is recognized as one of the main drivers of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in SMEs development to increase their competitiveness.
He initiated and led the implementation of the Ministry's ICT Master Plan and Trade Information Website and was responsible for the modernization of the Ministry's ICT infrastructure. Prior to that he initiated the drafting of the E-Commerce Law, the e-Ministry initiative, as well as the creation and standardization of Khmer Unicode script in computers.
Before joining the public sector, Sorasak spent his career in the private sector for 18 years, occupying various senior positions (up to Corporate Vice President) with UNOCAL, an American multinational oil and gas exploration company in the United States, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore and headed its country office in Cambodia. He also worked as a Researcher for the United States Air Force and the Pentagon.
Sorasak has served in a number organizations including as member of the Board of Architects of Cambodia, Vice Chairman of the National Standard Board, the National Statistical Board, National Council of Science & Technology (NCST) and the American Cambodian Business Council (AmCam).
Minister of Commerce[edit]
Upon his appointment, he has made the strengthening of trade-related legal and regulatory framework as one of his main priorities. These efforts resulted in the promulgation of many laws and amendments including the Law on Trade Remedy (Nov 2017), Law on E-commerce (Nov 2019), Law on Consumer Protection (Nov 2019), Law on Competition (Oct 2021) and Law on Food Safety (June 2022).
He has also been a driving force behind Cambodia’s integration into the regional and global economy through his stewardship of many regional and bilateral trade agreements negotiations, culminating in the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement, Cambodia-Korea Free Trade Agreement, and Cambodia-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
He has been instrumental in strengthening Cambodia’s participation in multilateral cooperation by establishing a dedicated Permanent Mission of Cambodia to the WTO, UNCTAD, WIPO, ITC UNIDO and WCO and other international organizations responsible for economy and trade in Geneva.
In 2017, he spearheaded the successful second Trade Policy Review of Cambodia at the WTO. In 2021, he pushed for the accession to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and in the same year Cambodia deposited its accession protocol, thereby confirmed Cambodia’s commitment to strengthen the implementation of international IP laws. He has frequently led delegation to participate in many meetings, conferences and forums under the auspices of those international organizations to bring Cambodia’s voices and perspectives to the world.
He has also taken lead in many reform initiatives at the Ministry of Commerce. In the effort to improve Cambodia’s business environment, he played critical role in introducing automation systems to provide better access to the Ministry’s public services including the Certificate of Origin and Business Registration Automation System. In relation to this, he was also behind the amendments of Cambodia’s Laws on Commercial Enterprise and Law on Commercial Rules and Register (Jan 2022) to amend critical provisions required to improving Cambodia’s ease of doing business. He also led the re-organization of one of the Ministry’s directorates into a specialized agency for consumer protection, food safety and competition, so-called (CCF), to ensure safety for the consumers and level playing field for businesses and other internal reforms to improve effective and efficient functioning of the Ministry.
On social and humanitarian works, He has been appointed on 26 October 2022 as Honorary Chairman of the Kampong Cham Branch of the Cambodian Red Cross, a work in which he is very passionate about.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "H.E. Mr. PAN Sorasak, Minister of Commerce informed Australian Ambassador to Cambodia of Strategic Activities". www.moc.gov.kh. Ministry of Commerce (Cambodia). 9 August 2016. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- ^ "Cambodia parliament approves PM's 'healthier' new cabinet". Reuters. Reuters. 2016-04-04. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- ^ "Cambodia to join Dubai Expo 2020". Khmer Times. Khmer Times. 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2018-12-06.