KAZAKHSTAN: MFA RESHUFFLES SENIOR DIPLOMATS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 002566

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SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: MFA RESHUFFLES SENIOR DIPLOMATS

REF: ASTANA 2457

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1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.

MFA RESHUFFLE


2. (SBU) On December 29, Kairat Sarybay, until December 26 the
Deputy Foreign Minister, was appointed senior foreign policy advisor
to President Nazarbayev, succeeding Yerzhan Kazykhanov, who was
named Kazakhstan's new Ambassador to Austria. According to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),Kazakhstan will now have two
diplomatic missions in Vienna: the Embassy to Austria, headed by
Kazykhanov, which will also cover Kazakhstan's cooperation with
international organizations based in Vienna; and the Permanent
Mission to the OSCE, headed by Kairat Abdrakhmanov, who was
previously Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Austria.

KAZYKHANOV BIO NOTES


3. (SBU) Yerzhan Kazykhanov was born on August 21, 1964, in Almaty.
He received an undergraduate degree in Asian Studies in 1987 from
Leningrad State University. After graduation, he completed
compulsory military service as a translator from 1987 to 1989. He
subsequently graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Soviet
Union and joined Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he
served as Deputy Chief of State Protocol (1992-95),Counselor to the
Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York
(1995-2000),Director of the Department of Multilateral Cooperation
(2000-03),Permanent Representative to the United Nations and
non-resident Ambassador to the Republic of Cuba (2003-07),Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007-08),and Senior Foreign Policy
Advisor to the President (2008). Kazykhanov has the rank of Envoy
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary First Class and speaks fluent
English and Arabic. Kazykhanov is the author of the book,
"Cooperation of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the United Nations"
(Almaty, 2002),as well as numerous articles on multilateral
diplomacy and the United Nations. He is married with two children.

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE OSCE


4. (SBU) Kairat Abdrakhmanov, formerly in charge of relations with
international organizations, will be Kazakhstan's new Permanent
Representative to the OSCE. Shortly after he was named Ambassador
to Austria, Abdrakhmanov was asked about the OSCE Chairmanship. In
reply, Abdrakhmanov said, "This gives Kazakhstan an excellent
opportunity to contribute to strengthening the potential and
efficiency of the Organization. The leadership and the people of
our country made real progress in building democracy and civil
society. We are determined to be a genuine democratic country where
the basic values and the standards reflected in the documents of the
OSCE will be undoubtedly prevailing. Naturally, chairing the OSCE
would further promote the development of our political system, which
in fact corresponds to our own inner intentions aimed at the
systemic reforms of social and political life in the direction of
further democratization. For Kazakhstan, Chairmanship of the
Organization has already become a powerful catalyst for reform, an
additional confirmation of the rightly chosen path of further
liberalization and openness. We think that the positive outcome of
our bid might have a multiplicative effect for the complex
modernization of our country and the region as a whole."

NEW PRESIDENTIAL FOREIGN AFFAIRS ADVISOR


5. (SBU) The new Presidential Foreign Affairs advisor, the 42-year
old Kairat Sarybay has had a meteoric career in the diplomatic
service, much of it close to President Nazarbayev. After studying
oriental languages in the Soviet Union and Kazakhstan, Sarybay
entered the newly-formed Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry in 1992 as a
second secretary in the Consular division, followed by an assignment
in Ankara. He returned to Kazkahstan in 1996 as the President's
Chief of Protocol and then Press Secretary. He was rewarded with
the Ambassadorship to Turkey in 1999 and subsequently went on to
Berlin as Ambassador. In 2007, Sarybay returned to Astana to
replace Kazykhanov as the Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe and the
Americas. Saribay's wife, Leila, is an artist who has a gallery in
Astana. She is currently working on possible collaboration with
several New York museums. Sarybay speaks fluent English, German and
Turkish as well as native Kazakh and Russian. He is very

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sophisticated and comfortable in his dealings with foreigners.



6. (SBU) COMMENT: Moving Kazykhanov to Vienna and Abdrakhmanov to
the OSCE reflects the President's continued intense interest in the
activities of former son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev, reportedly still in
exile in Austria, as well as the government's intention to pay
full-time attention to multilateral affairs. Abdrakhmanov,
Kazykhanov, and Sarybay represent the first generation of
Kazakhstani diplomats; they are fluent in Kazakh, Russian, and
English and, despite their relative youth, experienced in dealing
with the West. All three have served as Deputy Foreign Minister for
Europe and the Americas in the last three years, and two of them
have also worked in presidential protocol. Clearly they represent
the MFA's "A" team.


7. (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED: For some time the MFA has planned to
open a new embassy in Vienna to deal exclusively with the OSCE. The
MFA is increasingly recognizing the importance of other
international agencies, for instance the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA). Kazakhstan remains interested in seeking a seat on
the IAEA Board of Governors in 2010. Moreover Kazakhstan will be
the chair of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 2011.
While we understand and support Kazakhstan's desire to play a
leading role in international organizations, there is a risk that
these moves will severely tax a thin bench of experienced diplomats.
END COMMENT.

HOAGLAND