Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed an order significantly reducing the number of members of his administration. This information was reported by Ferghana on February 12. The order on the “Staff Size and Structure of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan” reduces the number of departments from 22 to 13 and will eliminate ten percent of its staff. According to the news source, President Nazarbayev commenced the fulfillment of his recent promise to reduce government expenditures, except in social programs, beginning with cuts in his own administration. The president is expected to soon make similar cuts and administrative reforms in Kazakhstan’s law-enforcement agencies accountable to the president, according to Ferghana. It was stated that the cuts were made to “increase responsibility and independence among leaders of Kazakhstan’s structural departments.”

This information was originally published on February 12, 2008.  (www.fergana.ru).