Graduate School of Public Policy

Mr Yerzhan Ashikbayev, Deputy Foreign Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan gave a talk on Kazakhstan’s Foreign Policy during the inaugural dialogue session on 6 October 2017. Since December, 2013 Yerzhan Ashikbayev has served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Mr. Ashikbayev speaks English, Turkish and French, and holds the diplomatic rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Second Class.

In his speech Yerzhan Ashikbayev elaborated on the basics of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, Kazakhstan – UN relationship, the role of nuclear non-proliferation policy and the importance of multi-vector policy which forms the cornerstone of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy. During Q&A session he answered numerous questions from students covering issues on anti-terrorism, migration, use of soft power, storage of the nuclear wastes, Kazakhstanis serving in UN organizations and the process of getting a job at the Foreign Ministry.

The dialogue series are intended to allow the GSPP community to dialogue with leaders, senior officials and public figures on a wide range of topics in an informal setting. The dialogue series provide an excellent opportunity to ask questions to better understand the rationale, reality and constraints of policymaking and governance from those who are at the helm.