Mr. Santisouk PHOUNESAVATH has been appointed as Director General of Department of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Industry and Commerce on 7 January 2022.
Mr. Santisouk previously served as Deputy Director General of Foreign Trade Policy Department, Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Lao PDR, where he was appointed as Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) of ASEAN-Hong Kong and TNC of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), conclude in 2020 which is the largest free-trade-area in the world at present.
He also initiated and worked on the accession to the UN Convention on the Sales of Goods (CISG) with success. In addition, he initiated and negotiated on the Lao PDR’s accession to the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) under the WTO with success at the end of December 2021. Prior to 12th Ministerial Meeting of WTO (MC12), he was actively working and putting the Lao PDR’s proposals on the Investment Facilitation for Development and Agriculture Negotiation for Food Security.
He started his work in Foreign Trade Policy Department since 2000 as the negotiation on the accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) membership of Lao PDR. He was in charge in Trade in Goods negotiation and some rules, for instance, import licensing, rules of origin, including TRIPS etc. He has been involved in many draft laws and regulations related to trade policy.
Mr. Santisouk graduated in Bachelor’s Degree in International Economic from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand and pursued his Master Degree of International Economic and Finance from Brandies University, USA.
