Stephen Millar, B.A. Hon; M.A. has been Canadian Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan since September 2009. He joined Canada's Department of External Affairs and International Trade in 1982 and served as an analyst of Soviet bloc economies until 1991, travelling often to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Millar was the assistant to Canada’s Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London. From 1991 to 1996 and from 1998 until 2007, he held a number of positions in the International Branch of the Department of Finance Canada, including, from 2004 to 2007, that of chief of the Department’s International Institutions Section, where he was responsible for managing Canada’s relations with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the EBRD. From September 2007 until August 2009, Mr. Mi llar was a senior trade commissioner at the Embassy of Canada to the Russia Federation, with concurrent accreditation to Uzbekistan and Armenia.