12 March 2011 | 15:36

Tokayev appointed Director General of UN Office in Geneva

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Vesti.kz stock photo

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan as the new Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG), the UN has published on its website. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan has a thorough knowledge of the Conference on Disarmament coupled with extensive hands-on management experience. Tokayev succeeds Sergei Ordzhonikidze from Russia who has been leading UNOG since 2002. Ban Ki-moon told President Nursultan Nazarbayev about his decision to appoint Tokayev in a telephone conversation. They also discussed important issues of international significance, including the situations in Maghreb, Middle East and Central Asia. Ban Ki-moon said that Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in the OSCE in 2010 and the OSCE Summit in Astana were successful, the presidential website reports. “Nursultan Nazarbayev invited Ban Ki-moon to take part in the international conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the closure of Semipalatinsk test site,” the official statement reads. Currently Tokayev chairs the Senate of Kazakhstan’s Parliament. Formerly he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1994-1999); and Secretary of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs (2002-2007); Prime Minister of Kazakhstan from 1999 to 2002. Born in 1953, he is a graduate of Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Beijing Institute of the Chinese Language and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. He holds a Doctor degree in political science. He is married and has a son.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan as the new Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG), the UN has published on its website. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan has a thorough knowledge of the Conference on Disarmament coupled with extensive hands-on management experience. Tokayev succeeds Sergei Ordzhonikidze from Russia who has been leading UNOG since 2002. Ban Ki-moon told President Nursultan Nazarbayev about his decision to appoint Tokayev in a telephone conversation. They also discussed important issues of international significance, including the situations in Maghreb, Middle East and Central Asia. Ban Ki-moon said that Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in the OSCE in 2010 and the OSCE Summit in Astana were successful, the presidential website reports. “Nursultan Nazarbayev invited Ban Ki-moon to take part in the international conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the closure of Semipalatinsk test site,” the official statement reads. Currently Tokayev chairs the Senate of Kazakhstan’s Parliament. Formerly he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1994-1999); and Secretary of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs (2002-2007); Prime Minister of Kazakhstan from 1999 to 2002. Born in 1953, he is a graduate of Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Beijing Institute of the Chinese Language and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. He holds a Doctor degree in political science. He is married and has a son.