The UN refugee agency today opened an office in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, a move that will help UNHCR build more partnerships to care for some 16,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the country

Wednesday's opening ceremony was attended by a number of senior Kazakh government officials, including Talgat Unaibayev, Head of the International Organisations Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Askar Nurymbetov, Head of the Interior Ministry's Department of International Cooperation; and Tungatar Baisagizov, Deputy Chief of the Migration Police's office for combating illegal immigration. Meiram Zholtayevich Baigazin, Head of the Department on Refugees in the Agency for Migration and Demography, heralded the opening of UNHCR's newest office worldwide in a speech to the gathered diplomats, government and UN officials. Officiating at the event, UNHCR's chief of mission in Kazakhstan, Yasuku Hanyu, said, "Since establishing our first presence in the country in 1996, UNHCR has worked with Kazakhstan's government to establish a functioning asylum system. Thanks to the opening of our office in the capital, we will be able to further strengthen our cooperation with the government of Kazakhstan on refugee and migration issues." The new UNHCR office in Astana will complement an existing one in the old capital, Almaty. The UN refugee agency currently assists some 16,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Kazakhstan, mainly Russians, Afghans and Tajiks.