Askar Mamin

Asqar Uzaqbaiuly Mamin (Асқар Ұзақбайұлы Мамин, ; born 23 October 1965) is a Kazakh politician and economist who served as the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan from 2019 to 2022, resigning due to pressure from the 2022 Kazakh unrest.

From 1996 to 2008, he served as the first deputy äkim of Astana, Vice Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan, First Vice Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

A member of the ruling Kazakhstan's political party Nur Otan, Mamin previously served as äkim of Astana from 2006 to 2008, and as Minister of Transport and Communication in Daniyal Akhmetov Cabinet from 2005 to 2006, and as First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan from 2016 to 2019 and Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan from 2019 to 2022.

Mamin was born in Tselinograd (now Astana).

He graduated from the Tselinograd Civil Engineering Institute and the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics with civil engineering and economics specialties.

He began his career as an erector of Tselintyazhstroy trust.

He served as deputy director general of Innovative Enterprises Union of Kazakhstan.

On 21 September 2006, Mamin was appointed as the äkim of Astana.

On 15 January, Tokayev re-nominated Mamin to the post of the PM at the opening session of the 7th Parliament of Kazakhstan with 78 out of 99 deputies support while the rest abstained, marking it the first time since 2007, that the PM had not received unanimous support.

From there, Mamin was criticised by the parliamentary opposition over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the session, Mamin thanked the deputies for support, outlining that effective measures would be taken in improving quality of life, increasing income and welfare, attracting investment, introducing new technologies, and creating workers' months.

He also serves as the president of the Kazakhstan Ice Hockey Federation, a position he assumed in 2008.

He served that position until he became the president of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy on 17 April 2008.

He served as First Deputy Prime Minister from 9 September 2016 to 21 February 2019.

Previously, he was the president of the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national railway company of Kazakhstan.

On 9 September 2016, he was appointed as the First Deputy Prime Minister in Sagintayev Cabinet.

On 8 January 2018, Mamin joined the board of directors of the national company Kazakh Tourism.

On 21 February 2019, Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev was dismissed by President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

As a result, Mamin became the Acting PM and was confirmed by the Parliament unanimously to be the new PM on 25 February.

The following day on 26 February, Mamin at the meeting with the cabinet telling that the government should aim at "concrete results" that would improve of the quality of life of the population.

On 10 January 2021, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for the resignation of the government in accordance with the legislation on the day of the 2021 legislative elections which were held in Kazakhstan.

Speculations arose regarding Mamin's fate, in which it was widely expected that he would retain it while among other likely contenders to possibly replace Mamin's prime ministerial post were seen as Bauyrjan Baibek, Nurlan Nigmatulin, Aset Isekeşev, Qanat Bozumbaev, Erbolat Dosaev or Baqyt Sultanov.

Former president and Nur Otan chairman Nursultan Nazarbayev endorsed for Mamin's re-appointment, stating that the government has done its job contrary in other countries.

On 24 June 2019, a fire broke out in an ammo storage near the town of Arys in Turkistan Region, resulting in a huge explosion where three people died and 89 of them were injured.

Mamin, on the behalf of Tokayev, visited the town on 29 June and from there, he ordered all repairs from the damage to be completed by 1 August 2019.

For the restoration, 56.1 billion tenge was allocated, of which 27.5 billion were from the government's reserve.

On 2 August, Mamin re-visited the town where he expressed gratitude to everyone who was involved in the repairs, calling it "a tremendous work" as 90% of restoration by then was completed.

By 2019, the GDP growth rate in Kazakhstan accounted 4.5%, a higher than expected figure thanks to a driven growth generated by the construction, transport, trade and communications industry, contrary to as the Kazakh Government and World Bank expected the range to be 3.5 to 3.8% rate.

On 24 January 2020, at the government meeting, Mamin outlined key goals in ensuring the economic growth of 4.7 to 5% for 2020 with a given task in creating 430,000 new jobs and increasing real incomes for the population.

A strategic objective was unveiled which aimed at increasing the volume of fixed investments by an average of 15% annually and to bring its level to 30% of GDP by 2025.

Amid the unrest in January 2022, he resigned his post.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, Mamin, at the meeting with officials on 26 January 2020 instructed several preventive measures to be implemented in order to prevent spread of the virus such as strengthening sanitary, epidemiological and migration control at the borders, travel restrictions to China, suspension of the 72 hour visa-free stay for persons arriving from China.

In addition, he called for the creation of the Inter-Agency Commission on Coronavirus Non-Proliferation, chaired by Deputy PM Berdibek Saparbayev.

After the reported first case of COVID-19 in the country in March 2020, a state of emergency was declared as well as the formation of the State Commission for the State Emergency Regime in which Mamin became the head of.

At the first meeting of the commission, Mamin instructed the government to strengthen measures by carrying out sanitary and anti-epidemic measures in all organizations and facilities and to provide pharmacy networks with medicines and personal protective equipment, while noting that äkims would take personal control of implementing measures.

On 17 April 2020, Mamin issued a governmental decree "On certain issues of entry (exit) in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the stay of immigrants in the Republic of Kazakhstan", which suspended certain laws that granted a 30-day visa-free stay for citizens from 57 countries.

On 21 April 2020, Mamin announced that the nationwide lockdowns would soften only with strict adherence to sanitary and epidemiological safety.

As the coronavirus restrictions were lifted on 11 May 2020, an estimated of 4.2 million Kazakhstanis had lost their jobs.

To combat the issue, Mamin instructed the Ministry of Labour, National Economy and Agriculture, as well as with the akimats, to take measures in increasing employment in all state programs and ensure the implementation of all planned indicators with the Labour Ministry monitoring the work with the äkims.

On 19 June 2020, after an increase of cases shortly after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, Mamin addressed the difficulties of the epidemiological situation with the enforcement of new lockdowns by Tokayev.