Yelena Arkhangelskaya

Yelena Arkhangelskaya

Head of Division of Multilateral Cooperation, Department of International Cooperation - Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Yelena Arkhangelskaya currently serves as Head of Division of Multilateral Cooperation, Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

A Kazakhstani national born on July 9th, 1995, in Almaty, Yelena graduated from Miras International School in 2013. After completing the IB Diploma Programme, she was accepted to study at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, for a B.A. in Media and Communication. Between 2013 and 2017, she attended the University of Victoria before transferring to York University in Ontario, Canada, where she graduated in 2017 with a B.A. in Political Science. During her studies, she completed an internship at the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, in 2016. Following this, she joined the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (now Canada Eurasia Chamber of Commerce) as an intern and later worked as Assistant Regional Director for a year.

In 2018, Yelena pursued a Master’s degree in Political Science at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), graduating in 2020 with a GPA of 96/100. During this period, she undertook internships at the Eurasian Economic Commission in Moscow, working in both the Macroeconomic Policy Department and Business Development Department, where she contributed to economic policy analysis and regulatory assessments within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Yelena’s professional career in the public sector began in 2020 when she joined the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan as Chief Expert and later on as Acting Head of the Division of Economic Integration. In this role, she was responsible for developing and coordinating industrial and infrastructure cooperation policies within the EAEU, as well as leading intergovernmental negotiations on economic policy. Since March 2022, Yelena has been serving in the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where she has played a pivotal role in shaping the country’s energy policy on the international stage. She led the adoption of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Energy Cooperation Strategy 2030 and has been instrumental in Kazakhstan’s accession to the Global Methane Pledge. She also serves as a key liaison for major international energy investors and has organised high-level ministerial events with the European Union, the SCO, and the Organisation of Turkic States.

Beyond her official duties, Yelena has been an active participant in international climate and energy summits, including the UN Climate Change Conferences COP 28 and COP 29. She was appointed as Kazakhstan’s speaker at the United Nations Environment Programme’s negotiations on plastic pollution. Her contributions to Kazakhstan’s investment climate were recognised with an award from the Kazakhstan Foreign Investors’ Council Association in 2023.

In addition to her professional achievements, Yelena is an engaged member of the MGIMO Alumni Association and has contributed to public policy initiatives. She has also volunteered for various social and charitable projects, including initiatives to combat air pollution in Almaty and providing support for vulnerable populations during Kazakhstan’s national holiday of Nauryz. Fluent in English and Russian, with working proficiency in Kazakh and French, Yelena continues to advance Kazakhstan’s international energy diplomacy efforts, shaping policies that drive sustainability and investment in the region.