Bolat Kabdylkhamituly Nurgaliyev ( kk, Болат Қабдылхамитұлы Нұрғалиев, ''Bolat Qabdylhamitūly Nūrğaliev''; born July 25, 1951) is a Kazakh diplomat and the current Special Representative of the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

Chairperson-in-Office for protracted conflicts. Nurgaliyev studied foreign languages at the Tselinograd State Pedagogical Institute. He joined the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Foreign Ministry, and served from 1980 to 1992 throughout

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

. He then was the director of the Department of International Security and Arms Control Department of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry for four years, until he was appointed Ambassador to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1996. In 2001, he became Kazakhstan's ambassador to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, and in 2003 the ambassador to Japan. He served as Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009. Shortly after taking office, Nurgaliyev commented that "The most important task for the SCO now is to further crackdown on terrorism, separatism and extremism".New SCO Secretary-General Prioritizes Peace and Security
Xinhua News Agency He was appointed as the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for protracted conflicts for the 2010 Kazakhstani Chairmanship of the OSCE.
OSCE webpage

References

1951 births Ambassadors of Kazakhstan to South Korea Ambassadors of Kazakhstan to the United States Ambassadors of Kazakhstan to Japan Ambassadors of Kazakhstan to Canada Ambassadors of Kazakhstan to Mexico Ambassadors of Kazakhstan to Israel Living people {{Kazakhstan-bio-stub