The EXPO-2107 International Exhibition closed on September 10. Very soon, after the real estate properties will have been transferred and the legal matters of the project finalized, Akhmetzhan Esimov, the current chairman of the Astana EXPO-2017 National Company, will find himself out of a job. Where will the president send him next?

 Since Akhmetzhan Esimov turns 67 on December 15, 2017, he has every right to retire. Even more so because he has occupied nearly all the existing high-rank state positions (those of the president and prime-minister notwithstanding).

Nonetheless, based on the information from our inside sources, Akhmetzhan Esimov is not at all planning on retiring. Instead, he wishes to continue serving his country. Our sources say that, when meeting with Nursultan Nazarbayev (who, by the way, is Esimov’s uncle), he asked the president to appoint him… the governor of Almaty. The president assured he would reflect upon this request.

If Nazarbayev fulfills the desire of one of his closest and most loyal allies, Bauyrzhan Baybek, the current governor of Almaty who has been occupying this post from August 2015, will be transferred to a similar position in a different region of the country. Note that Baybek has given more than enough reasons for criticism to the Almaty citizens.

Our sources say that the reasons why Akhmetzhan Esimov is prepared to continue working are not hard to plumb. First, for a long time now, he has been a silent co-owner of the Ivolga-Holding company, one of Kazakhstan’s three largest cereal companies that has been experiencing big problems for the last several years. Second, his other large business-asset, ATF Bank, also demands serious investments due to the well-known problems in the Kazakhstan bank sector.

Therefore, if the president accedes to his nephew’s request, the latter will receive a chance to solve his financial problems and then retire peacefully.

Here is the interesting part. What will Nazarbayev do with Baybek?