Islamabad (TDI): At the seventh edition of the Global Ambassador Awards, organized by Diplomatic Insight Group (DIG), the ambassador of Kazakhstan to Pakistan Yerzhan Kistafin received the title of “Ambassador of the Year.”
The ambassador was honored with this title for his role in advancing trade and economic cooperation between Pakistan and Kazakhstan.
Bilateral trade rose from $50 million in 2020 to $293 million in 2024, supported by the revitalization of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission, the Kazakhstan–Pakistan Business Council, and the creation of joint working groups on trade, transport, energy, agriculture, IT, and education.
He has also promoted connectivity, transport, and logistics for regional integration, while fostering academic partnerships with over 40 MoUs between the universities of Kazakhstan and Pakistan.
Cultural and media exchanges have expanded, and sports diplomacy has flourished through active collaborations in football, golf, tennis, mountaineering, taekwondo, and traditional sports.
Ambassador Kistafin is a career diplomat with a background in international relations, strategic
studies, and law.
He has served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, and represented his country at important global positions. His last assignment was as minister counsellor at the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the US.
During his tenure in Pakistan, he oversaw visits of Kazakhstan’s President, Prime Minister, Chairman of Mazhilis, Deputy PM and Foreign Minister to Pakistan, and facilitated regular high-level political dialogues and multilateral summit engagements.
He revitalized Joint Intergovernmental Commission and Kazakhstan-Pakistan Business Council. The 2025 Kazakhstan–Pakistan Business Forum in Karachi was the largest in the history of bilateral relations of the two countries, and generated commercial contracts exceeding USD 200 million.
Ambassador Kistafin also facilitated signing of 40+ MoUs between universities of Kazakhstan and Pakistan. He promoted exchanges in football, golf, tennis, mountaineering, taekwondo, kabaddi, togyz kumalak, and qazaq kuresi.
Established in December 2008, The Diplomatic Insight is Pakistan’s premier diplomacy and foreign affairs magazine, available in both digital and print formats.
