David Chikvaidze on President Tokayev, His Former Boss at the United Nations

David Chikvaidze, Chef de Cabinet of the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) worked closely with President Tokayev of Kazakhstan in the United Nations Office at Geneva for more than two years. In this conversation with Diplomat Magazine, Chikvaidze shared insights about his perception of Tokayev, his thoughts on Tokayev’s appointment as President of Kazakhstan, and how he thinks Georgia can make the most of a strategic partnership with Kazakhstan under Tokayev’s government.

Kazakhstan’s new president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, headed the UN’s office in Geneva from 2011 to 2013. You were the head of his cabinet for a while, when did you first meet him, and how would you describe his character? Also, what outstanding personal or professional qualities did he have?

Indeed, I had the privilege and great pleasure of working closely with Mr Tokayev in 2011-2013, when he served as Under-Secretary-General, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General to the Conference.

He is a unique individual: a high-caliber diplomat with an academic mind and a prolific pen, with a phenomenal memory; a linguist par excellence, who fluently speaks four official languages of the UN, including Chinese and Russian at mother-tongue level, a thoroughly modern manager and thinker, yet anchored in traditional values and national spirit. All of the above are surpassed only by his personal human qualities of decency, honesty, both professional and in personal relationships and his kindness towards people. The latter trait of character is exceedingly important for a Head of State.

It has been an honour to know Mr. Tokayev for many years, since the time he was Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan in the early-nineties when I started working in the UN Secretariat in New York. He and my father were ministers at the same time and had a very healthy respect for each other and very cordial relations and were at the early stages of Georgian-Kazakh bilateral relations and cooperation.

Do you have any special memories of working with him?

I have many recollections of working with Mr. Tokayev, all of them educational and very pleasant. One thing that comes often to mind is a story he told us, senior managers, after he had been nominated as Speaker of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan and had come back to Geneva briefly, to wind up his tenure here and say good-bye to the Geneva diplomatic corps and local community which was very sorry to see him go. Well, the story he told was the following: while back home for the nomination, he had gone in for a medical check up and saw a crowd of people standing at the top of the stairs inside the building and another crowd at the bottom, without moving. When he asked his security man what they were doing there, he was told that they were blocked to let him enter. He could not believe this and immediately gave orders to lift the block. We were all amused by this story and told him that he had spent only two and a half years in the UN and had already picked up politically correct manners! But seriously, this story is a reflection of his true beliefs and his deeply democratic mentality.

How did you find the news of the resignation of the former President of Kazakhstan, and the appointment of Tokayev in his place? Did you expect it?

The timing certainly was a surprise to me, as to most people, I think. But I was not surprised by the transition itself, because I knew of the close relationship between the first president of Kazakhstan and Mr. Tokayev. This transition, actually, underscores the character and personal rapport of the two men. President Nazarbayev was the kind of wise, balanced, intelligent and enlightened leader that all of the former Soviet republics would have benefitted from upon the dissolution of the USSR, but only some were as lucky. He saw a young, talented, intelligent diplomat, picked him out, put him next to him and ‘grew’ him. And this young diplomat paid him and his country back with honest work, growing in the process and walking in lock-step with the President in all of the vital first and subsequent steps in the diplomacy of a young state, with strong established powers on its borders and a complex ethnic make-up. Mr. Tokayev earned the trust of President Nazarbayev through his good judgement, forthright character, internationalism and an impeccable record of personal honesty and integrity.

How was Tokayev’s appointment as Kazakhstan’s President perceived in the UN?

The staff of the United Nations Office at Geneva were very happy to see their former boss rise to such a high level. In general, it is always a great feeling when one is needed and called upon for service to one’s country. The wider International Geneva, as well as the authorities of Switzerland at all three levels – municipal, cantonal and federal – who had gotten to know and appreciate Mr. Tokayev, were all very pleased as well.

How was the general perception in the UN when a “UN man” became the President of a country that has many challenges in terms of its democracy? Can you make a positive prediction in the case of Kazakhstan?

I would urge you to name a single country that has no challenges with regard to democracy in its fullest and politically unbiased definition. That said, if we go by your premise, it is all the more important that someone with personal democratic inclinations and with UN experience to boot, takes up such high office and is in a position to address the challenges you refer to.

How would you assess the first few months of Tokayev’s presidency?

It would be presumptuous of me to “evaluate” the work of a president of a Member State of the UN. As international civil servants, we do not engage in such evaluations. As an outside observer, however, in my own personal capacity, I applaud his first steps, right from the business-like way that he organized the inauguration: without delay, without much fanfare and hundreds of foreign high-level guests and endless feasts and festivities. It was a sober, business-like, yet dignified, solemn event, after which he immediately set to work. And he has a lot of work to do, primarily domestically.

To what extent would you say Tokayev’s appointment as President is affecting Georgia-Kazakhstan relations? What is his personal position on Georgia?

Mr. Tokayev is very well disposed to Georgia and Georgians. He is in favour of strengthening relations with Georgia, as with all neighbors, close and distant. I am very confident that his presidency will work for the widening and deepening of our political and economic relations. For that to happen, we need to put our own house in order, remember that whatever we do should have the best interests of our country at heart and to relegate to oblivion the narrow political interests that seem to be hijacking our daily life. This, in many ways, is similar to the challenge that the new President of Kazakhstan is facing.