KANAT SAUDABAYEV NAMED NEW FOREIGN MINISTER OF KAZAKHSTAN

Astana, September 7, 2009: On September 4th Kanat Saudabayev was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan; he will continue to serve as Secretary of State. Mr. Saudabayev was previously Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United States, the United Kingdom and Turkey. 

Kazakhstan’s President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, noted the experience and service – both public and diplomatic - of Saudabayev, as well as his credibility at home and abroad. As Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr.Saudabayev takes over responsibility for spearheading Kazakhstan's preparation for and holding the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010.

On making the appointment official President Nazarbayev praised the work of the previous Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin – who has been appointed Assistant to the President and Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Born in 1946, Kanat Saudabayev served as the Secretary of State of the Republic of Kazakhstan since 15 May 2007. He served as Kazakhstan's ambassador to the United States from December 2000 until 2007, when President Nazarbayev promoted him to the position of the Secretary of State. In Washington, Mr Saudabayev brought an important contribution strengthening the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and the USA in the spheres of security, nuclear disarmament, economy and democratic development. Before his appointment to the U.S., Ambassador Saudabayev had a long career in the fields of government, diplomacy and the arts.

In 1999 and 2000, he served as the head of the Prime Minister’s Office. In the 1990s, he served as Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and to Turkey.

Working in Moscow from September 1991 through May 1992 as the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic to the USSR, and then, after the Soviet Union collapsed, to the Russian Federation, Kanat Saudabayev was a direct participant in and a witness to many crucial events of that time.

Before entering the diplomatic service, Mr Saudabayev had a distinguished cultural career, serving as Kazakhstan’s Chairman of the State Committee of Culture with the rank of Minister, Chairman of the State Film Committee, and Deputy Culture Minister. He began his career as a theatrical producer.

Kanat Saudabayev holds degrees from the Leningrad Institute of Culture and the Academy of Public Sciences of the Central Committee of Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Kazakh State University and Doctor’s degree in Political Science from the Moscow State University. Mr Saudabayev is married with three children.