Alibek Kuantyrov named Kazakhstan’s new minister of ecology and natural resources

Kuantyrov has been relieved of his previous position of the country’s deputy foreign minister.

His candidacy was approved by the Committee on Agrarian Affairs, Ecology and Natural Resources of the Qurultay of Kazakhstan.

Kuantyrov began his government career in 2005 as a leading specialist at the Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning.

From 2006 to 2010, he served as an expert and chief expert in the ministry’s investment policy and planning departments. In October 2010, he was appointed head of the Strategic Development Division of the Strategic Planning and Analysis Department at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

From 2010 to 2013, Kuantyrov served as deputy director of budget policy and planning departments at the Ministry of Finance. He then became deputy chairman of the Committee of Geology and Subsoil Use under the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies.

Between 2013 and 2019, he held senior positions in the Presidential Administration, including deputy head of the Center for Strategic Development and Analysis and deputy head of the Department of Socio-Economic Monitoring.

From April 2019 to February 2021, Kuantyrov served as deputy head of the Office of the First President of Kazakhstan.

He was appointed vice minister of national economy in February 2021 and became minister of national economy in January 2022, later being reappointed to the position.

From April to July 2024, Kuantyrov served as director general of the KAZENERGY Association. He then moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served as deputy minister from July 30, 2024.

Kuantyrov graduated from Tomsk State University in 2006.

In 2010, he earned a master’s degree from the University of Michigan under Kazakhstan’s Bolashak scholarship program.

Earlier, Qazinform reported Kazakhstan named the agriculture minister.