Kanat Saudabayev was born in 1946 in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan.
Mr. Saudabayev is a graduate of the Nadezhda Krupskaia State Institute of Culture in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) and of the Academy of Social Sciences attached to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
He began his career as Director of the Mukhtar Auezov Academic Theatre of Kazakhstan.
For many years, Mr. Saudabayev worked in the field of culture as Head of the Department of Culture of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR, Deputy Minister of Culture, and Chairman of the State Committee on Cinema and the State Committee on Culture with the rank of Minister.
In 1991, Kanat Saudabayev transferred to the Diplomatic Service as the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic to the USSR.
In 1992, he was appointed the first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Turkey.
In 1994, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
From 1994 to 1996, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Turkey.
From 1996 to 1999, he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with concurrent accreditation to Norway, Sweden and Ireland.
In 1999 and 2000, he held the post of Head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery – member of the Government.
From 2000 to 2007, he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United States of America.
In May 2007, he was appointed Secretary of State of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In September 2009, he was named Secretary of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
He currently holds the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
Foreign languages: English, German and Turkish.
Mr. Saudabayev holds the degree of Candidate of Philosophical Sciences from the Kazakh State University (1981) and a doctorate in political science from the Moscow State University (2001).
He has been awarded the Otan and Kurmet orders.
Kanat Saudabayev is married with three children and four grandchildren.
