Astana, 13 October 2022 (TDI): The CICA summit appointed the incumbent Executive Director of CICA Secretariate Ambassador Kairat Sarybay as the first secretary General of CICA. 

Ambassador Kairat Sarybay

Ambassador Kairat Sarybay has served as the  Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measure in Asia (CICA) since September 24, 2020.

Kairat Sarybay has had an illustrious career span in diplomacy and has served his country at the highest level since 1991. Since he joined the service in August  1991, Ambassador has been appointed to various positions in the structural divisions of the central office and diplomatic missions abroad.

K.Sarybay  served as Head of Protocol Service of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1996-1997, as the Press Secretary and Head of the Press Service of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1997-1998).

Kairat Sarybay was appointed as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the first time in 1998-1999.

From 1999 to 2003, K.Sarybay served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Turkey, the youngest Kazakh Ambassador appointed abroad.

Serving as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Federal Republic of Germany from 2003-2007, Kairat Sarybay initiated the process, which resulted in the adoption of the EU Strategy on Central Asia (2007).

After serving as Germany, Ambassador K.Sarybay  joined the headquarters as Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2007-2008. He was appointed as the National Coordinator for Interaction with the European Union. He headed the government task force to develop “The Path to Europe” State Programme, approved by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – the key strategic document for priorities of Kazakhstan in the framework of the Chairmanship in the OSCE (2010).

As a result of his outstanding skills, Ambassador K.Sarybay served as Assistant to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan on foreign policy issues from 2008-2010. It was the third time that Ambassador Sarybay was appointed as Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan from September 2010 to February 2014.

Before he was appointed the Executive Director of the CICA Secretariat, Kairat Sarybay served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Austria and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the International Organizations in Vienna since February 2014.

For his outstanding services, K.Sarybay has been awarded Orders of the Republic of Kazakhstan – “Parasat” (‘Nobility’),  II degree “Dostyq” (‘Friendship’) and “Qurmet” (‘Honour’), and several state medals, as well as with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Karel Kramer Commemorative Medal of the Czech Republic and numerous awards of international organizations.

Mr. Sarybay has scientific and research background in Oriental Studies and linguistics. He is an author of books “Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (compiler), “Astana – The Music of Life” (editor-in-chief), “Kazakhstan: the Heart of Eurasia” (compiler and member of the editorial board), scientific and popular science articles on ancient Turkic languages, articles on relevant international policy issues, lectured as the visiting professor of Diplomatic Institute of the Academy of Civil Service of Kazakhstan.

Kairat Sarybay graduated from the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Leningrad State University (1988). His mother tongue is Kazakh, and he is also fluent in Russian, Turkish, English, and German.

Kairat Sarybay was born on 8 June 1966 in a family of scientists and music experts in Almaty/Kazakhstan.