Serik Akhmetov

Serik Nyghmetuly Akhmetov (Kazakh: Серік Нығметұлы Ахметов, Serik Nığmetulı Axmetov, سەرٸك نىعمەتۇلى احمەتوۆ; born 25 June 1958) was Prime Minister of Kazakhstan from 2012 to 2014. He served as the Minister of Defense from April to October 2014.
Akhmetov served for a time as Deputy Governor of Astana before being appointed to the Government of Kazakhstan as Minister of Transportation on 25 September 2006. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of the Atameken National Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers of Kazakhstan since 2005. President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed Akhmetov as Prime Minister following the resignation of Karim Massimov on 24 September 2012.

Akhmetov met with Igor Levitin, the Russian Transport Minister, on 25 October 2006. Akhmetov proposed building a transport corridor using preexisting roads from southern Kazakhstan through Kazan and Orenburg to St. Petersburg. Minister Levitin said the Russian Government would consider the proposal, but that it wanted the corridor to go through Chelyabinsk. They discussed the "transit of planes from Asia to Europe" and transportation through the Caspian Sea. Levitin plans on making a working trip to Aqtau to further discuss sea transportation. On 9 November Akhmetov and Levitin met in Aqtau, signing an agreement creating a train and ferry link between Aqtau and Makhachkala ports. The first ferry will carry 52 freight cars of grain and oil products on 10 November.

He traveled with Deputy Prime Minister Karim Masimov, Finance Minister Natalya Korzhova, and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov to Beijing, China from 16–17 November 2006 to boost bilateral relations.

He is fluent in English, Russian and Kazakh. He is married and has two children.