Mari Pangestu Politician
Mari Elka Pangestu was the Minister of Trade of Indonesia from October 2004 to October 2011. In a cabinet reshuffle in October 2011 she was appointed to the newly-created position of minister of Tourism and Creative Economy. She is the first female Chinese Indonesian to hold a cabinet position in Indonesia. Since her appointment to the new cabinet position, she has spent time explaining the approach of the government towards fostering creative sectors of the economy in a number of statements The initial listing of the 14 sub-sectors included in the scope of the creative economy part of the Ministry was the following: When focusing on tourism priorities within her portfolio, she has been both supportive of plans to develop the tourist sector but has also pointed some well-known problems. She has, for example, noted that problems of hygiene, security, and poor infrastructure constitute handicaps for the industry in Indonesia. 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. 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 a very effective public speaker and minister. As Minister for Trade she was sometimes criticised by domestic industry groups for supporting trade-promotion measures rather than looking to increase protection for domestic producers. Her response to these criticisms was to note that Indonesian needed to adhere to international commitments to promote trade-oriented policies and that freer trade brought many benefits to domestic consumers and producers in Indonesia. As an 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. Mari Pangestu is married to Adi Harsono and has two children, Raymond and Arya.
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Office holder
| office | Minister of Trade of Indonesia Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises of Indonesia (ad-interim) |
|---|---|
| president | |
| successor | Syarief Hasan |