The Almaty city’s governor met with the Metropolitan of Astana and Kazakhstan, Alexander

In his speech, Metropolitan Alexander noted that Kazakhstan has become a recognized place for a global religious dialogue in the world, where an interfaith and interethnic world reigns. There are good traditions of mutual respect between representatives of different faiths.

"Thanks to the wise policy of the Head of our state, N.A.Nazarbayev, peace and harmony are fully realized in the blessed land of the Great Steppe. There is not such an institution as the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan in any country. This is a surprising dialogue platform where the different nation’s people with the different religious views gather to help and serve our native land, our Kazakhstan. It is the place where the atmosphere of friendship, mutual understanding and good human relations reigns, "he stressed.

In turn, the Metropolitan of the Cyprus Orthodox Church, Isaiah Tamassos, noted that an interfaith and an interethnic harmony has become the foundation for the successful development of Kazakhstan.

"This morning, we walked through Almaty with the representative of the Bulgarian Church, Metropolitan Nicholas. We were six clergymen in black cassocks. When we usually went to other countries, everybody had a very strange looking and talking among themselves about us, but there were smiles and greetings for us. We did not feel like strangers.

This shows that people really live here peacefully, we’ve felt it and it’s been very joyful for us. I immediately has had an idea that we need to invite our Cypriots here as the tourists to see really that there is a country where people can live peacefully, "- said Isaiah Tamassos.

It should be noted that 178 religious associations are registered in Almaty, 23 of them belong to the Orthodox Church. There are about 100 religious buildings, including 19 Orthodox churches.