Dr. Surin Pitsuwan is the current Secretary-General of ASEAN. He was a Member of the Thai Parliament in 1986 and has served in the same constituency for seven consecutive terms. In 1986, he was appointed Secretary to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Subsequent appointments were as Assistant Secretary to the Minister of Interior in 1988 and as Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister from 1992-1995. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 - 2001.
He is currently a member of the Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, a Member of the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Member of the International Advisory Board of the International Crisis Group (ICG), a Member of the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, an International Academic Advisor of the Centre for Islamic Studies, Oxford University and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Asia Foundation. Dr. Pitsuwan was also a member of the "Wise Men Group" under the auspices of the Henri Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HDC) in Geneva, advising the peace negotiations between the Acehnese Independence Movement (GAM) and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia.
Dr. Pitsuwan taught at Thammasat University from 1975 to 1986 where he was appointed Assistant Vice Rector for Academic Affairs and has worked as a columnist for the Nation Review and the Bangkok Post, as well as, a correspondent and analyst for the ASEAN Forecast. Between 1983 and 1984, Dr. Pitsuwan worked as a Congressional Fellow in the Office of US Congress-woman Geraldine A. Ferraro and the Senate Republican Conference.
Dr. Pitsuwan studied at Harvard University where he received a Ph.D. and an M.A. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Claremont Men's College in California in 1972.