/ 10 January 2007

Kazakh Parliament appoints technocrat as PM

Oil-producing ex-Soviet state Kazakhstan on Wednesday appointed Karim Masimov, a technocrat who studied at a United States business school, to the post of prime minister.

Both houses of Parliament voted unanimously to approve Masimov, who until now served as deputy prime minister. He was nominated for the job by President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

”Continuity in the principles of government is one of the most important conditions of sustained economic and social development,” Masimov said at his confirmation hearing in Parliament.

Kazakhstan is emerging as a major source of non-Opec (Organisation of the Oil Exporting Countries) oil and international majors Chevron, Eni SpA and Shell have billions of dollars invested in energy projects there.

The state has been seeking a bigger role in the oil sector and investors will watch closely to see if Masimov continues this trend.

The prime minister’s post became vacant when Masimov’s predecessor, Danial Akhmetov, resigned unexpectedly on Monday.

Nazarbayev said Akhmetov would be defence minister in the new government and that Aslan Musin, economy minister in the outgoing government, would be deputy prime minister.

”I am sure Karim Masimov has sufficient knowledge and experience and that the new government will present a programme which will allow us to entrench and develop Kazakhstan’s successes. He has a clear understanding of the plan of action to do this,” Nazarbayev told Parliament. — Reuters