VZCZCXRO6842
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW
RUEHLA RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNEH RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHPW RUEHROV
RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTA #2566/01 3651016
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 301016Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4232
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 0983
RUCNCLS/SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0383
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1089
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFAAA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC 0555
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 0458
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY 1052

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 002566 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/ERA, EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR OFDP KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN:  MFA RESHUFFLES SENIOR DIPLOMATS 
 
REF:  ASTANA 2457 
 
ASTANA 00002566  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶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 
 
ASTANA 00002566  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
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