page_title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
section_title: Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva
hierarchical_section_title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev / Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva
caption_attribution_description: 9:35 a.m., September 13, 2012 - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, accompanied by Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and UN Special Envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, arrive at UN headquarters for a trilateral meeting focused on reaching a political solution to the Syrian civil war. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
context_page_description: Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev is a Kazakh politician and diplomat. He took office as the president of Kazakhstan on 20 March 2019, succeeding Nursultan Nazarbayev, who resigned on 19 March 2019 after 29 years in office. Tokayev was elected president of Kazakhstan in a snap election on 9 June 2019 with 71% of the popular vote. According to the OSCE, "significant irregularities were observed on election day, including cases of ballot box stuffing, and a disregard of counting procedures meant that an honest count could not be guaranteed." "There were widespread detentions of peaceful protesters on election day in major cities", said the OSCE in their Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions.
  He was Chair of the Senate of Kazakhstan from 11 January 2007 to 15 April 2011 and from 16 October 2013 to 19 March 2019. Tokayev served as Prime Minister of Kazakhstan from 1 October 1999 to 28 January 2002 and as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva from 12 March 2011 to 16 October 2013.
context_section_description: In March 2011, the Secretary-General of the United Nations announced the appointment of Tokayev as Under Secretary-General, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva and Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Conference on Disarmament. He served as Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament. He was also the Designated Official for safety and security of UN personnel for Switzerland.
  Tokayev holds a Doctorate in Political Science. He is the author of nine books and numerous articles on international affairs. He is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons at the Munich Security Conference, an Honorary Professor of Shenzhen University, an Honorary Professor and Doctor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, as well as a member of its Board of Trustees. He is also Honorary Dean of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations. As Director-General of UNOG, he received the "Academicus" award from the University of Geneva. According to the Russian Biographic Institution, Tokayev was admitted as a "Person of the year – 2018".
caption: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev with Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry on 13 September 2013
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.7.1", "Image DateTime": "2013:09:13 04:01:44", "Image Artist": "", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.8.4", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "384", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "37078", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "37202", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6023", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "560", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:09:13 03:35:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:09:13 03:35:17", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "17", "EXIF SubSecTime": "61", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "61", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "61", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2784", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1848", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "153/100", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "25", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}