ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree in Astana Oct.6 creating the Ministry of Defence and Aerospace Industry, reported the Akorda.
Minister of Defence and Aerospace Industry Beibut Atamkulov
The ministry will implement state policy in defence, aerospace and electronics industries, cyber security, mobilisation, formation and development of the state material reserve, participation in the military-technical policy and military-technical cooperation and management of defence contracts.
The newly formed ministry was transferred functions and powers from the Kazakh Ministry of Defence in the sphere of the defence industry, the Ministry for Investment and Development in the field of space activities, the Ministry of National Economy in the sphere of mobilisation, formation and development of the state material reserve, as well as the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Information and Communications activities in the field of information security.
The Committee for Information Security, the Aerospace Committee and the Committee for the State Material Reserves will be formed under the new ministry.
Former Akim (Governor) of the South Kazakhstan region Beibut Atamkulov was appointed Minister of Defence and Aerospace Industry on Oct. 7.
Fifty-two-year-old Atamkulov graduated from the Kazakh Polytechnic Institute and the Saint Petersburg State University of Economy and Finance. He worked as a diplomat since 2006. In 2010, he became an Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Later, in 2012 he joined the Ministry for Industry and New Technologies, later reorganised into the Ministry of Investment and Development as its Executive Secretary. He served as Akim of the South Kazakhstan region since August 2015 until his most recent appoint as the head of the newly established ministry.
