Kazakhstan Names New Foreign, Economy Ministers

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has replaced the country's foreign and economy ministers.

The presidential press service said on December 28 that Kairat Abdrakhmanov has been named foreign minister, replacing Yerlan Idrissov.

It also said that Timur Suleymenov was named economy minister, replacing Kuandyk Bishimbaev.

No reason for the changes were given.

Abdrakhmanov had previously served as Kazakhstan's ambassador at the United Nations. Idrissov had been foreign minister since 2012. A presidential decree said he would be transferred to another post.

Suleymenov, 38, was a member of Kazakhstan's Collegium on Economic and Financial Policies. He graduated from Kazakhstan's Pavlodar State University and received his MBA from the University of Maryland.

With reporting by Interfax