Danial Akhmetov re-confirmed as PM, Masimov his deputy

ASTANA, 17th January 2006 - Kazakhstan’s parliament voted to re-appoint Danial Akhmetov as prime minister on Wednesday, signalling no sudden policy shifts for the oil-producing Central Asian state.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev, re-elected to a new seven-year term last month in a poll in the ex-Soviet state, nominated Akhmetov to the post, which he has held since June 2003.

The president, who nominates the prime minister and approves his list of ministers said: “There were no serious errors in the work done by the government... it should carry on working,”

The president has nominated a close aide as Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for overseeing the larger strategic questions while the Prime Minister focuses on "day to day" issues. Karim Masimov was born in 1965. He graduated from Wuhan Technical University (China) in 1991. He is an international jurist, economist and Doctor of Economic Science.

Since June 2003 he held a post of Kazakhstan President’s assistant.