Kazakhstan to appoint non-resident ambassadors
ASTANA. KAZINFORM. In autumn 2017, non-resident ambassadors will be appointed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Executive Secretary of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry Anarbek Karashev advised this after an extended session of the Senate Committee for Foreign Relations, Defense and Security for discussion of Draft Law "On Amendments and Additions to the Law "On the Diplomatic Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan".
"Currently, we have embassies only in 3 of 52 African states - Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa. Therefore, as our country is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, we will open additional embassies in those countries where we do not have any missions. But this [appointment of non-resident ambassadors] gives us the opportunity to economize, i.e. a non-resident ambassador will stay here in Kazakhstan and only travel to the country he is accredited to for specific occasions. There is no exact figure today. After the Expo, we will decide upon the countries with additional embassies according to priority", Mr. Karashev said.
According to him, at the moment, Kazakhstan has 57 embassies abroad. In total, there are 93 foreign missions including general consulates, consulates and others.
Georgiy Kim, a member of the committee, advised during the session that a group of senators developed the draft law to improve the level of international relations and maintain it after the end of Kazakhstan's membership in the UN Security Council. In addition to the newly established posts of non-resident ambassadors, there will be the 5-year time limit for staying abroad. In other words, after work in any country for 5 years, an ambassador must be returned to Kazakhstan and appointed to the position conforming to his status in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After 2-3 years, he/she can be sent abroad again. The purpose of this provision is to let Kazakh ambassadors abroad know the situation in Kazakhstan and accordingly organize their work in the destination countries.