Adilbek Ryskeldiuly Zhaqsybekov (, Ädılbek Ryskeldıūly Jaqsybekov) (born 26 July 1954) is current Head of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He served as the minister of defence from June 2009 to April 2014. He was the head of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's administration. He served as the Mayor of Astana from 1997 to 2003 and from 2014 to 2016. Chairman of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank in 2003, and the Minister of Industry and Trade from 2003 to 2004. While Information Minister, Zhaksybekov participated in a meeting held in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2004 in which a Common Economic Area was proposed for Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. On 4 April 2004, he gave a speech entitled "The Industrial Innovation Development Strategy of Kazakhstan, 2003–2015" in Washington, DC. Kazakhstan and the World Trade Organization Supachai Panitchpakdi, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, met with Zhaksybekov and a government delegation in Geneva on 9–15 July to discuss Kazakh admission into the World Trade Organization. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry issued a press release about the talks on 17 July. Radio Free Europe reported that a WTO Secretariat offered to "provide technical and organizational help to prepare Kazakhstan for membership" as both Panitchpakdi and Zhaksybekov agreed that Kazakhstan "needs to make its economy more competitive before joining." The WTO credited the government for liberalizing its policy on foreign-trade and conforming to WTO accounting policies. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry was positive about Kazakhstan's prospects of becoming the second Central Asian state with membership in the WTO. Cultural exchange with Russia Zhaksybekov, who served as the mayor of Astana, met with Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, during the "Days of culture," held from 14–16 May, in 2002. The local government in Moscow sponsored ten events, including the presentation of a stone sculpture entitled "A Symbol of Friendship of Moscow and Astana." Trade agreements Agreement with Pakistan Zhaksybekov and Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, the Pakistani Minister for Investment and Privatization, signed a trade agreement on 8 December 2003. According to Dawn, the agreement would "promote and protect bilateral trade and investment and enhance economic, scientific and technical cooperation" by creating "favourable conditions for investment by each others' investors for reciprocal promotion and protection of investments." The agreement prevented double taxation, and forbid "expropriat[ion], nationaliz[ation]," and "requisitioning" of each other's investments in their respective countries. Agreement with Afghanistan Sayeed Moustafa