President names Kazakhstan’s new ambassador to Japan

In line with the presidential decree he was relieved of the post of Kazakhstan’s ambassador to the Greek Republic.

Former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Japan Sabr Essimbekov was relieved of his duties.

Born in Taraz in 1967, Erlan Baudarbek-Kozhataev is a graduate of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (1989) and the Institute of Asian and African Countries at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (1992), and the Japanese Language Institute in Kita-Urawa (1994).

His diplomatic career took off in 1992 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where Erlan Baudarbek-Kozhataev held various positions in the Department of Asia and Africa. From 1997 to 2003, he served as the second and first secretary, and later as the counselor of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Japan. Between 2004 and 2008, he was the director of the Department of Asia and Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In 2008, he was appointed as the first Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Singapore. From 2008 to 2016, he also served as the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Australia and New Zealand, concurrently. From 2016 to 2021, he held the position of the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Japan.

Prior to the recent appointment as the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Japan, Erlan Baudarbek-Kozhataev served as the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Greece.

He holds the diplomatic rank of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador. He is fluent in English and Japanese.

Earlier it was reported that U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Daniel Rosenblum informed the Kazakh government on November 26 that he will be resigning from his post effective January 20, 2025, and will retire after nearly 28 years of distinguished service with the U.S. Department of State.