Kairat Abdrakhmanov

Ambassador Kairat Abdrakhmanov of Kazakhstan served as the sixth OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities between December 2020 and August 2024.

Abdrakhmanov is a distinguished and decorated career diplomat from Kazakhstan. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan in 1993, where he held a number of key positions, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. His first overseas assignment was at the Embassy of Kazakhstan to the United Kingdom. He also served at different times as the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Israel. From 2013 to 2016, he served as Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and led Kazakhstan’s bid to become the first Central Asian State elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. He represented his country as the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the UN Security Council between 2017 and 2018. Abdrakhmanov served as Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE from 2007 to 2013 and presided over the OSCE Permanent Council in 2010 when Kazakhstan Chaired the OSCE in 2010. He was instrumental in organizing the first OSCE Summit in 11 years in December 2010, during which the Astana Commemorative Declaration: Towards a Security Community was adopted.