Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, signed a decree on establishment of a ministry for religious affairs and civil society.
The decree is supposed to modernize and increase the efficiency of the public administration.

The head of the ministry is Nurlan Ermekbayev. He no longer occupies the position of the Secretary of the Security Council.

The new ministry will have the power in the area of cooperation with religious institutions, enforcement of the freedom of conscience for the citizens, and cooperation with state and civilian sector (the Culture and Sports Ministry and Education and Science Ministry).