Mr. Sultan Akimbekov - Director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Kazakhstan’s leading think-tank. The organization conducts an active research program on major economic, social and political issues and trends affecting the country and its neighbors. For over a decade, Mr. Akimbekov has been involved in the development of the country’s policies, as advisor to the President and as a head of the country’s preeminent research institutions. He has also served as editor-in-chief of Kazakhstan’s leading analytical publications on geopolitics and security.

Mr. Akimbekov specializes in political and social developments in Eurasia. He is one of the most authoritative specialists on the history of the Mongol Empire, and Afghanistan. He has authored several books on these subjects, as well as numerous articles, published in Kazakhstan and abroad. He is frequently invited to speak at major international academic and policy events on Eurasian region’s economy, security and politics.

Mr. Akimbekov received his BA degree in history from the Kazakhstan State University, and conducted his post-graduate studies in the Institute of Sociology in Moscow. He received his Ph.D. in history from al-Farabi Kazakh State University (1999).