BANGKOK, July 26 (TNA) — Tej Bunnag, currently advisor to the Office of His Majesty’s Principal Private secretary, was on Saturday appointed Thailand’s new minister of foreign affairs, succeeding Noppadon Pattama who resigned mid-July as a casualty of the row over the the ancient Khmer temple of Preah Vihear with Cambodia.

His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej gave the royal endorsement to Mr. Tej as foreign minister Saturday afternoon.

Mr. Tej, a former permanent secretary for foreign affairs, is expected to have an audience with His Majesty the King on Sunday at the palace for a traditional swearing-in ceremony before officially taking up his post.

The most urgent task for the new foreign minister is to hold official talks with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong next Monday in the Cambodian province of Siem Reap regarding the 4.6-square-kilometre contested area at Preah Vihear temple, which gained a World Heritage site listing from UNESCO for the Cambodian government earlier this month.

While hopes are improved for a positive outcome of Monday’s talks between the two men, the issue remains complex and emotion-laden for both countries.

The two ministers have had a long acquaintance, including a period during the 1990s when men represented their countries as ambassador to France.

Tej, 64, studied at Oxford and Cambridge and began his career with the Foreign Ministry in 1969.

Mr. Tej was formerly a co-chairman of the Thailand-Cambodia Commission for Promotion of Cultural Cooperation to boost friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

The post of foreign minister was left vacant since Mr. Noppadon resigned on July 14, days after the Constitution Court ruled that his signing of a joint document backing Cambodia’s bid to list the long-disputed Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site without endorsement by the Thai parliament was in breach of the country’s supreme law. (TNA)

MR. TEJ BUNNAG Minister of Foreign Affairs Kingdom of Thailand
DATE OF BIRTH :	November 25, 1943
MARITAL STATUS :	Married. Mrs. Phensri Bunnag
EDUCATION :
Minor Scholar, Malvern College, Worcestershire, U.K. Exhibitioner, B.A. (Hons) M.A., King’s College, Cambridge University, U.K. D. Phil., St. Antony’s College, Oxford, U.K.
CAREER :
1969	Joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Second Secretary,  Department of Information
1972	Second Secretary, East Asia Division, Department of Political Affairs
1973	Chief, East Asia Division, Department of Political Affairs
1976	First Secretary, Royal Thai Embassy, Jakarta
1979	Director of Economic and Financial Policy Division, Office of the Director-General, ASEAN – THAILAND
1981	Deputy Director-General, Office of the Director-General, ASEAN-THAILAND
1983	Ambassador Attached to the Ministry, Office of the  Permanent Secretary
1984	Deputy Permanent Secretary, Office of the Permanent Secretary
1986	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Thailand to the People’s Republic of China and to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
1990	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Thailand to the United Nations Office, Geneva
1996	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Thailand to France and Permanent Representative of Thailand to UNESCO
2000	present – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Thailand to the United States of America.
DECORATIONS :
2001	Knight Commander (Second Class, lower grade) of the Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao
1997	Grand Companion (Third Class, higher grade) of the Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao
1994	the Chakrabarti Mala Medal
1992	Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant
1987	Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand
FOREIGN DECORATIONS :
2000	Grand Officier de l’Ordre Nationale du Merite, France
1991	Gran Croce dell’ Ordine al Merito Melitense,  Sovereign Military Order of Malta
1989	Gran Officiel de la Orden del Condor de Los Andes, Bolivia
1972	M.V.O. (5th Class), U.K.

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