Kazakh embassy in Britain to move to new building

The Embassy of Kazakhstan in Great Britain will move to a new building, Tengrinews reports citing the official representative of the Central Communications Services Altai Abibulayev.

"The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan will take part in the opening ceremony of the new building of the Kazakhstan Embassy in London," Abibulayev said during the briefing.

Minister Yerlan Idrisov will officially visit the United Kingdom on November 20-22. He is going to meet with Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons MP Richard Ottaway, Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State William Hague and his deputy.

Abibulayev gave no reason why the Kazakhstan Embassy is planning to change their building, but it is widely assumed that the decision was related to the displeasure of Kazakhstan Senators with Kazakhstan's diplomatic quarters in foreign countries.

"We closely work with our ambassadors when going abroad and we visit the premises of our embassies. It some countries the buildings are great, but in some places we just ashamed of having such an embassy," Senator Talgatbek Abaidildin told Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov.

Kazakhstan Senators have repeatedly called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take a more principle position in regards to the buildings for Kazakhstan's embassies abroad and their locations. The Senators believe that Kazakhstan diplomats sometimes are often forced to share 'huts on fowl's legs'. Somebody in the Parliament even offered to buy a cheap buildings for Kazakhstan’s diplomatic missions while Europe was in crises and costs were down.

Gani Kasymov, then a Senator, said that "Kazakhstan Embassy's building in Great Britain was not worth a row of pins". He also said that even the fines for parking violations of Kazakhstan’s diplomats were caused by the improper location of the building.