Kazakh president signs decree on setting up ministry for religious and civil society affairs
ASTANA. Sept 13 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has signed a decree on setting up a ministry for religious and civil society affairs; the document is available on the presidential website.
The decision was made with the purpose of modernizing the state administration system and improving its efficiency, the document says.
The new ministry will be tasked with maintaining interaction with religious associations and ensuring the citizens' rights to freedom of conscience; it will also have to maintain interaction between the state and civil society (a function formerly within the Culture and Sports Ministry purview) and be engaged in youth affairs (a function earlier exercised by the Education and Science Ministry).
The same decree instructs the government, in coordination with the presidential secretariat, to modify the staff sizes of the reorganized and newly-established government agencies and take other measures following from this decree.
The presidential secretariat has been instructed to exercise control over the decree's implementation.
