Mr. Mithileshwar Thakur has joined as the Secretary General of AEPC w.e.f. 20^th February, 2023.
 
He is a member of the 1989 batch of Civil Service with experience of 33 years in the Government of India and 4 years in the best of public & private sector companies. He was the Gold Medalist/Topper in B. Tech., recipient of merit scholarships and among Top All India rank holders in the Combined Engineering Services Examination conducted by UPSC.
 
He served as Additional Director General in the Department of Commerce, Ministry of commerce and Industry, Government of India and was extensively involved in formulation and implementation of India’s Foreign Trade policy; administration of Trade Remedy Measures; amendment of Anti-dumping, Anti-subsidy and Safeguard Rules and negotiation of Free Trade Agreements/ CECA/CEPA. He also headed Trade Defense in the Department of Commerce and efficiently safeguarded Indian interest against trade remedy measures undertaken by other WTO members against India.
 
Has held the position of the Chairman, Export Facilitation Committee, West Zone; Chairman, Committee on Quality Complaints and Trade Disputes, Mumbai, Chennai and Cochin; member of various important committees viz. State Level Export Promotion Committee (SLEPC), Permanent Trade Facilitation Committee (PTFC), Regional Economic Intelligence Committee (REIC), Approval Committee of various SEZs in Kerala and Maharashtra etc.
 
He was also associated with the Task Force on Reduction of Transaction Cost in Exports and had been a member of Task Force in the Department of Commerce on Reduction of Compliance Burden for Citizens and Business and Task Force on amendment of FTDR Act.  
 
He has been a Visiting faculty at various reputed institutions including IIT, Kharagpur; National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics ( NACEN) , IIFT, Foreign Service Institute, Centre for WTO Studies, Law Centre (Delhi University); Keynote Speaker/ Panelist at various international  forums including at  WTO, Geneva, Seoul International Forum on Trade Remedies, Asia Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum and at various other prestigious events including the ones organized by The Economic Times, Thomson and Reuters, Dun and Bradstreet, FICCI, CII, FIEO, Bombay chamber of Commerce; World Trade Centre, Mumbai; Indian Chamber of Commerce, Calcutta and Cochin & various Export Promotion Councils.