Bangkok: Thai politician Anutin Charnvirakul, who was elected Prime Minister after winning a parliamentary vote on Friday, reportedly on Saturday named a former Treasury department head, a top oil and gas executive and a respected diplomat to run the finance, energy, and foreign ministries, respectively. Diplomat Sihasak Phuangketkeow, economist Ekniti Nitithanprapas and energy giant PTT executive Auttapol Rerkpiboon were “top executives in the organisations they will be responsible for”, news agency Reuters quoted Anutin as saying.
Ekniti is a finance ministry official who was once seen as a candidate for central bank governor while Auttapol helmed the country’s largest company, the state-owned energy firm, PTT Group. Thailand’s foreign service will see former permanent secretary Sihasak return as minister as a fragile truce with neighbouring Cambodia holds after a border clash flared into a five-day conflict that left at least 43 dead in July, Reuters reported. Anutin succeeds Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was dismissed by court order.