Dr. Kanokpan Lao-Araya

Dr. Kanokpan Lao-Araya has been appointed Country Director, Uzbekistan Resident Mission (URM), Asian Development Bank since July 2023. She is a national of Thailand, has more than 28 years of professional experience working on development and economic issues across the Asia-Pacific Region. She holds Doctorate and master’s degrees in economics from the Indiana University (Bloomington), USA and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
Prior to joining ADB in July 2001 she worked as an economist at the Fiscal Policy Office of the Ministry of Finance in Thailand for three and a half years. In ADB, she was first appointed as Economist at the Economic Research Department from 2001 to 2003 and moved on to take field office assignments in Viet Nam Resident Mission (2004–2007), People’s Republic of China Resident Mission (2007–2010), and Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office in Sydney, Australia (2010–2013) handling country operations and knowledge work in these field offices. She also worked in the Results Management Unit of Strategy and Policy Department in ADB Headquarters in Manila, Philippines (2013–2017) after her field assignments with ADB.
Before assuming her current position, she was the Country Director, Kyrgyz Resident Mission (2021–2023) and Country Director, Bhutan Resident Mission (2017–2021). As CD, KYRM and BHRM, she led the planning, implementation, and supervision of the resident missions’ visions, goals, strategies, and work plans in support of overall ADB goals.