Kazakh diplomat elected as OIC Assistant Secretary General

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Kazakh diplomat Askar Mussinov was elected the Assistant Secretary General for Science and Technology of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at the 45th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Kazinform cites the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Mr Mussinov is a career diplomat, who held various posts at the Kazakh MFA. He has been the Ambassador to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Executive Secretary and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In accordance with the assignment of the Government of Kazakhstan, he is now working as the Director of the Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution Unit at the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

"The appointment became possible owing to the high standing of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in the Muslim world, his active efforts for the development of the Islamic world. The election of the Kazakh diplomat for this responsible post of is of particular importance in the light of the results of the First OIC Summit on Science and Technology held in Astana in September 2017," said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kairat Abdrakhmanov.

The election is also noteworthy since a representative of Kazakhstan has never held such a high-level position at the OIC. Mussinov's opponent was Bangladeshi diplomat Kamrul Ahsan. 12 of 18 members of the Asian Group of OIC voted for Kazakhstan's representative.