Kazakhstan’s National Symbols Placed in Arctic World Archive
Longyearbyen, 3 June 2021 – Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Norway, Yerkin Akhinzhanov, during his business trip to Longyearbyen, the administrative center of the Norwegian province of Svalbard, held a number of meetings with Norwegian business and scientific entities, including the Arctic World Archive, to which he submitted files with national symbols of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Svalbard (Spitsbergen) is of particular importance in the international research community. Due to the archipelago’s proximity to the North Pole and unique climatic conditions, research stations of several countries and some essential high-tech facilities in telecommunications, meteorology, seismology, space research, and others operate here.
“This year, Kazakhstan celebrates its 30th anniversary of independence. Today, the country is the second-largest economy in the post-Soviet area and the largest in Central Asia. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is currently carrying out a complex of socio-political and economic reforms. Furthermore, the country is actively exploring new international partnership opportunities. We arrived to discuss investment, scientific and technical cooperation with leading Svalbard companies,” said Akhinzhanov during a meeting with Svalbard's constituted Governor (Vice-Governor), Sølvi Elvedahl.
During the visit, substantive meetings were held with the coordinator of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault Åsmund Asdal, and the director of SvalSat, a satellite station, Maja-Stina Ekstedt. The issues of collaboration in the field of science, technology and education were discussed during the visit to the University Centre in Svalbard and the Norwegian Polar Institute.
The Kazakh delegation also visited the Arctic World Archive, which stores digital data representing historical and cultural significance, important big data, intellectual property, and other information. The data is contained on media designed for a service life of 500 years or more in a deep steel vault in permafrost conditions.
On the eve of the Day of State Symbols of Kazakhstan, information files with the state flag, emblem, anthem, the Constitution, and the Law on State Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 16 December 1991, were placed in the Archive. The files were previously archived using a unique technology of Piql, a company that manages the Arctic World Archive.