Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reelected as Senate Speaker
Tokayev was nominated by President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and unanimously supported by all deputies of the Senate in secret voting.
Addressing the members of the upper chamber of the Kazakh Parliament, Mr. Tokayev said he is immensely honored by the decision of President Nazarbayev to reappoint him and feels great responsibility.
He stressed: "Our President is highly respected by the international community as a world-class policy maker, great reformer and historical figure. Under his wise leadership, our country has conquered the highest peaks and today ranks among the most respected countries of the world. It is a huge honor and responsibility for me to carry out President Nazarbayev's wise and far-sighted policy. I will exert all efforts in order to justify the President's confidence."
Born in 1953, Mr. Tokayev is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the Beijing Institute of the Chinese Language and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and he holds a Doctor of political science. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan in 1994-1999 and Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2002-2007. Mr. Tokayev also served as Prime Minister of Kazakhstan from 1999 to 2002. In 2011, he was appointed as the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) by then-UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Tokayev joined the Kazakh Parliament as the Senate Speaker in 2013.