Pisan Manawapat became the 44th ambassador of Thailand to the United States on Feb. 23, 2015, having most recently served as the Thai ambassador to the European Union, Belgium, Luxembourg, India and Canada. His first overseas posting was in D.C. (1986-90), where he spent his first 12 months on Capitol Hill as an APSA Congressional Fellow in the offices of Congressman Don J. Pease (D-Ohio) and Sen. Daniel P. Inouye (D-Hawaii). He also served at the Royal Thai Embassy in Malaysia (1993-95) and as deputy chief of mission in Japan (1999-2002). Ambassador Manawapat served as director-general of the Department of International Economic Affairs from 2002 to 2004, during which time he was also APEC SOM leader for Thailand while Thailand hosted APEC 2003. From 2004 to 2007, Ambassador Manawapat served as the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s deputy permanent secretary supervising all bilateral relations. He was also Thailand’s chief negotiator for the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement from start to finish (2002-06).
Born in 1956, Ambassador Manawapat attended Bangkok Christian College and Triam U-dom Suksa School in Bangkok. He graduated with a bachelor’s in economics and a master’s in economics, majoring in international trade, from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of London, respectively. He also completed Thailand’s National Defence College in 2003. He is married to Wanchana Manawapat and has one daughter.
Contact Information
Embassy of Thailand
1024 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington DC 20007
Phone: (202) 944-3600
Fax: (202) 944-3611
Website: http://www.thaiembdc.org/