Pornthiva Nakasai

Minister of Commerce, Thailand

Date of Birth: 06/06/1961

If effort can be measured in miles, Thailand's new Commerce Minister is earning her pay. Pornthiva Nakasi has been travelling constantly this year, in India in February and China, Japan and Russia in March. She will lead a delegation in late April to Nigeria, the largest African importer of Thai rice; the trip follows February's 'Africa Day' seminar in Bangkok, to bolster exporters' interest in the continent.

Pornthiva is fighting a contraction of Thailand's export-driven economy, which is predicted to shrink by 3% in 2009. Despite the gloomy outlook, she has set a target of 3% export growth in 2009. Although demand is falling for manufactured goods, it remains strong for farm exports and Africa has a growing appetite for Thailand's crops. Rice accounted for US$2.6 billion of $6.8 bn. in exports to Africa in 2008, a 113% increase on the previous year.

Born in 1961, Pornthiva earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Ramkhamhaeng University and a master's in public administration from Thammasat University. Elected to the House of Representatives in 2006, she was appointed Commerce Minister just three years later. She hails from a leading business family whose real-estate empire includes Bangkok's biggest massage parlour, the ten-storey Poseidon.

Pornthiva is a member of the Bhum Jai Thai (Thai Pride) Party, the second-strongest of the six parties in the coalition government. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government, which took power in December 2008, has been embattled from the start. Red-shirted demonstrators, encouraged by ousted Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, organised more protests in April. He remains popular with the rural voters who drive Thailand's agricultural export base. Winning business in Africa for Thai farmers might help Pornthiva win some of that popularity for herself.