Born: 17 May 1953 in Alma-Ata

Married with one child

1975 -- completes studies at Moscow State University for Foreign Affairs (MGIMO)

1975-79 -- works in Soviet Embassy in Singapore

1979-83 -- attache third secretary at Soviet Foreign Ministry

1983-84 -- attends Peking Institute of Chinese Language

1984-85 -- third secretary of Soviet Foreign Ministry

1985-91 -- second, then first secretary at Soviet Embassy in China

1991-92 -- student at the Diplomatic Academy, dissertation topic "Asian-Pacific States in the Foreign Policies of Kazakhstan"; also wrote dissertation on "Foreign Policies of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Period of Establishing a New World Order"

March 1992-December 1993 -- deputy foreign minister of Republic of Kazakhstan

October 1994-October 1999 -- foreign minister, Republic of Kazakhstan

12 October 1999-28 January 2002 -- prime minister

28 January 2002-present -- foreign minister

Author of the books: "How It Was: A Chronicle of Agitation in Peking (April-July, 1989)," 1993; "The United Nations: A Half Century of Service to the World," 1995; "Under the Banner of Independence," 1997; "The Foreign Policy of Kazakhstan in the Conditions of Globalization," 2000; "The Diplomacy of the Republic of Kazakhstan," 2001