Mari Pangestu

Mari Elka Pangestu was the Minister of Trade of Indonesia from October 2004 to October 2011. She was appointed to the newly-created position of minister of Tourism and Creative Economy in October 2011. Mari Pangestu is the first female Chinese Indonesia to hold a cabinet position in Indonesia. Minister Pangestu is also Indonesia’s candidate for the post of Director General of WTO.
Before being appointed as Minister of Trade in 2004 she was a leading staff member of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta and active over a long period in various trade forums such as PECC. She is regarded as one of the most well-known economic experts on trade issues in Indonesia. She has also served as an instructor in the Faculty of Economics in the University of Indonesia.
Mari Pangestu is widely respected both in Indonesia and overseas. She is known as an effective public speaker and minister. As a professional economist, she is widely published in the Indonesian and international media. She serves on the Board of External Editors of the Asian Journal of Business (University of Michigan) and Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies (produced by the Indonesia Project at the Australian National University). She also served as co-coordinator of the Task Force on Poverty and Development for the United Nations Millennium Project.
Born in Jakarta, Mari Pangestu obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Australian National University, and her Doctorate in economics from the University of California at Davis, United States, in 1986.