Nursultan Nazarbayev

Nursultan Nazarbayev was born on July 6, 1940 in the village of Chemolgan (Kaskelen district of Almaty region, Kazakhstan) in a peasant's family. In 1967 he graduated from a technically-oriented higher educational establishment under the Karagandy Iron-and-Steel Works. In 1992 he was awarded PhD in Economics at the Russian Academy of Management (Moscow).

Mr. Nazarbayev was awarded the following honorary degrees:

The academician of the International Engineering Academy (1993).

The academician of the Academy of Social Sciences of the Russian Federation (February, 1994).

The academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1995).

The honorary professor of the Kazakh State National University after Al-Farabi.

The honorary member of the Byelorussian Academy of Sciences (January, 1996).

The honorary professor of the Moscow State University after M.V.Lomonosov (May, 1996), etc.

Nursultan Nazarbayev started his career in 1960 as a construction worker in Karagandy oblast, and made his way to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1991through several working positions in the metallurgic plants and executive positions in the Communist Party.

On December 1, 1991 the first national elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan secured Mr. Nazarbayev's presidency upon unilateral support of the country population. Furthermore, the 1995 referendum extended Mr.Nazarbayev's presidential terms of office till 2000. Later, on January 10, 1999 Nursultan Nazarbayev was re-elected the President of Kazakhstan for another 7 years. As the head of the country Mr. Nazarbaev is credited for keeping peace and ethnic concord and political stability in the country, for preserving its territorial integrity, and introducing Kazakhstan to the world community.

Mr. Nazarbayev is the author of many books and scientific articles. Among his well-known publications are: "Kazakhstan-2030: Message of the President of the country to the people of Kazakhstan", "On the Threshold of the XXIst Century", "With Neither the Right nor the Left", "The Market and Socio-Economic Development", "In the flood of history".

His wife, Sara Nazarbayeva, an engineer by profession, heads the International Children's Charity Fund "Bobek". Mr. and Mrs. Nazarbayev are parents to three daughters and have three grandchildren.