ASTANA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took office as Kazakhstan's interim president on Wednesday following the sudden resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev who had served as the country's president for nearly three decades.
"I solemnly swear to faithfully serve the people of Kazakhstan, to strictly observe the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to guarantee the rights and freedoms of citizens, to fulfill in good faith great duties of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan entrusted on me," Tokayev said at a parliament meeting.
Nazarbayev, who served as Kazakhstan's president since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, announced his resignation on Tuesday.
Tokayev had been the speaker of the upper house of Kazakhstan's parliament since September 2017.
