The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies'  International Center for Terrorism Studies  presented an Ambassadors' Forum Luncheon with Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the US, Erlan Idrissov, on the "Kazakhstan-US Strategic Partnership: Past Experience and Future Outlook," Monday, June 20.  Click below to watch video of the event.  

Please note: The views of guest speakers are the speakers' alone and do not represent the views of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies or its staff.  The Potomac Institute is a non-partisan, not-for-profit research organization dedicated to the free exchange of ideas for the purpose of informing public policy.

Moderator:

Prof. Yonah Alexander, Director, ICTS

Keynote Speaker:

Ambassador Erlan Idrissov

Commentator:

Claude Salhani, Political Analyst on Central Asia, former editor of the Middle East Times and UPI, and author of Islam Without a Veil (2011)

Ambassador Idrissov was born April 28, 1959 in Karkaralinsk.  From 1976-1981, he studied English and Urdu at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the USSR.  Mr. Idrissov worked in Pakistan for "Tyazhpromexport" of the USSR State Committee on Economic Cooperation from 1981-1985.  During the next five years of his career, he engaged in further studies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kazakh SSR.  Additionally, he attended lectures in Hindi and French at the Diplomatic Academy of the USSR from 1990-1992.

In 1992, Mr. Idrissov was appointed Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York.  Three years later, he began work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan as the Head of the American Department while also acting as the Ambassador-at-Large.  Mr. Idrissov later became assistant to the President of Kazakhstan, focusing on international issues, and, in 1997, was nominated the First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.  Following his service in this position, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan in October 1999.

Mr. Idrissov was posted to London in 2002 to serve as Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden.  He continued to work in Europe until he was appointed Ambassador to the United States on July 7, 2007.