Professor Franklyn Lisk was invited to be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony on 17th August 2017 of the Inaugural Conference of the Graduate School of Public Policy (GSPP) at Nazarbayev University (NU), Astana, 17-19 August.

The mission of the GSPP is to promote the development and quality of life in Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region through good public policy aimed primarily at improvement in good governance, diversification of the economy, and institutional reforms. The GSSP conference, which had as it theme "Good Governance and Economic Diversification in Resource-rich Economies", brought together about 75 participants from academic, governmental and private institutions in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. My keynote address entitled, "Promoting Good Governance in Natural Resources Management for Sustainable Development: Towards a Framework for Transparency and Accountability" (attached) was well received and generated a lively Q&A session afterwards. In a vote of thanks, the Dean of the GSPP, Prof Weng Tat Hui, expressed great satisfaction with the address which he found "insightful" and “personally benefitted from".

NU which was established in 2011 and named after the President of Kazakhstan is arguably the best university in the post-Soviet space between China and the Polish border. It teaches entirely in English, and its strategic international university partners include, Cambridge, UCL, Duke, Pittsburgh, Colorado school of Mines and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. NU is also a founding member of the recently established Asian Universities Alliance of Leading Universities, and it aspires to become a research -intensive university of international standing.

Warwick is the top-recruiting UK University in Kazakhstan with a stable student population of about 70 - a position and reputation that has been significantly enhanced by our collaborative relation with NU since 2013. Past and current areas of collaboration include Foundation Year Programme, School of Engineering, Public Policy and Diplomacy and Capacity-building for Professional Services and International Cooperation departments, as well as student mobility activities. In this regard, PAIS is currently collaborating with NU through its participation in a multi-university Horizon 2020-funded research project, EL-CSID. Many visits have taken place between academics/researchers and professional staff of both universities, and high level meetings have occurred including a meeting of the then two Provosts (Stuart Croft and Anne Lonsdale) in December 2015). A draft MoU is now being considered by both universities by which a strategic international partnership relationship between the two institutions will be formalised.

In addition to meeting with the Dean and academics of the GSPP, Professor Lisk also had a meeting with the Provost and head of NU Prof Ilesanmi Adesida and his senior management team engaged in international cooperation and global partnership including the Vice-President for International Cooperation, Ms Kadisha Dairova, and the Director for Global Experience Sharing, Ms Madina Aitakannova. The possibility of Prof Adesida visiting Warwick later this year or early next year was mentioned in their discussion on the establishment of strategic partnership between Warwick and NU. Prior to my visit to Astana, Franklyn had been briefed by the Executive Office of the V-C and the Office of Global Engagement in preparation for his meeting with the NU Provost and his team.

You can read Professor Lisk's keynote speech here.