Roman Vassilenko – World Policy Conference

Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the EU, NATO, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2016-2019, 2022-2025). Roman Vassilenko has been in Kazakhstan’s diplomatic service since 1994, serving throughout his career as Third Secretary and Second Secretary at the Embassy of Kazakhstan to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1996-1999), as well as as First Secretary and Counsellor at the Embassy Kazakhstan in Washington, DC (2000-2007). He worked in the President’s Office and in the Prime Minister’s Office in senior political positions focusing on Kazakhstan’s international engagements. Back at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, he served as Chairman of the Committee for International Information in 2009-2012 and 2014-2016, overseeing the Ministry’s communications efforts during such important periods as Kazakhstan’s chairmanships in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as the country’s simultaneous successful campaigns to host EXPO 2017 Astana and to join the UN Security Council for 2017-2018. He was first appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2016, being put in charge of developing Kazakhstan’s relations with the European countries, the European Union, and other Europe-based organisations such as the OSCE and the Council of Europe. It was at that period that Kazakhstan and the EU signed and ratified the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, making Kazakhstan the first country in Central Asia to have this second-generation agreement in force. Roman Vassilenko served as Kazakhstan’s first resident Ambassador to the Slovak Republic in 2019-2022, meaningfully contributing to strengthening bilateral ties. In 2022-2025, serving as a Deputy Foreign Minister for the second time, he contributed to further strengthening Kazakhstan’s ties with Europe at a time of major geopolitical and geoeconomic upheavals. He serves in his current position in Brussels since July 2025.