Ex Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to USA appointed Foreign Minister

Yerlan Idrissov has been appointed the new Foreign Minister, the President’s Press Service reports. According to the decree, he has been relieved of his duties of the country’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the USA. Mr. Idrissov was born in 1959 in the town of Karkaralinsk, Karaganda oblast. He served as Foreign Minister back in 1999. In January 2002 he was appointed First Vice Foreign Minister. The same year he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the UK. December 2002 he combined the post with the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Sweden, Norway and Ireland. In 2007 he was assigned the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the USA and relieved of his ambassadorial functions in the UK, Sweden, Norway and Ireland, assuming at the same time ambassadorial role in Brazil. From April 2011 the Foreign Ministry was headed by 48-year-old Yerzhan Kazykhanov. Before that he served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. From 2009 to 2011 he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Austria and Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to Vienna-based international organizations.