About the Speaker:

Dr Andrzej Bolesta has a PhD in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and an MSc from the University of Oxford. He also studied at Warsaw School of Economics, was a visiting scholar at the China Center for Economic Research, Peking University and conducted his research at Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University.

He is the author of China and Post-Socialist Development – the first comprehensive analysis of how the East Asian development model has influenced China’s transformation from central planning to market. The book has been published by the Policy Press, UK. It has been translated into Chinese language and will be published in Beijing in 2016.

Currently, he is a senior diplomat (First Counsellor) responsible for economic affairs in the Polish embassy in Bangkok (responsible for Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia). In his capacity, he has engaged in activities concerned with Myanmar’s economic transformation.

He has conducted lectures and seminars on economic reforms for Myanmar policy makers, government officials, members of the parliament, political parties, economic associations, universities and non-governmental organisations. Prior to his current position, he was the Head of the Economic Department and then Economic Counsellor of the Polish embassy in Beijing (responsible for China and Mongolia).

In Poland, he worked as a university lecturer, specialising in development and transformation of East Asian economies. He also advised the Head of the Parliament and was the Research Assistant to the former Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance.

He wrote and edited eight books and around 20 articles on economic development, Asian economies and systemic transformation, which were published in English, Polish and Chinese. He was an evaluator of Poland’s National Development Plan 2007-2013. He has been a guest lecturer at universities and government institutions in Poland, China, Mongolia, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. His main interest lies in the economies of East Asia – the region in which he has spent the last nine years.