New Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan Presents Credentials to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva

Erzhan Kazykhan, the new Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Kazykhan had been serving as Deputy Chief of Staff of the President of Kazakhstan since 2022, and concurrently as Special Envoy of the President for International Cooperation since 2021.

He served as Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United States from 2017 to 2021, and as Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2014 to 2017, concurrently serving as Ambassador to Ireland and Iceland. He served as Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the international organizations in Vienna from 2009 to 2011, and as Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York from 2003 to 2007, concurrently serving as Ambassador to Cuba. He was also a Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York from 1995 to 1999.

Mr. Kazykhan served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2012, and has held several other high-ranking positions within the Kazakh Government, including Assistant to the President in 2008 and from 2012 to 2014; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2007 and 2008 and in 2011; and Director of the Multilateral Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2003.

A decorated diplomat, he has been awarded with the State Orders of Qurmet(2011), Parasat(2016), and Barys, third degree (2021), as well as the Presidential Administration Badge of Honour for Superior Service (2014).

He holds a doctorate in history from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and is the author of numerous articles on Kazakhstan's foreign policy and multilateral diplomacy. Born in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 21 August 1964, he is married and has two children.

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CR25.039E