Nazarbayev didn't like order in which ministers sat at govt session
ASTANA. Jan 30 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev commented on the way participants were seated at a government meeting on Wednesday.
He told the protocol service how he believed ministers should be seated.
"The finance minister should not sit at the end of the table; his place is right next to the deputy prime minister. The finance minister is normally the deputy prime minister. Look where you put him," Nazarbayev told Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev.
The president asked all the ministers to move to allow Finance Minister Alikhan Smailov to sit closer.
"Who makes the protocol? I'll change the protocol now. Get up, come here [to the finance minister]. Everyone move down one seat, starting from [Kazakh Prosecutor General] Kozhamzharov. Here is his seat. He is the finance minister. We are having problems with finances because we have this kind of treatment," Nazarbayev said.