The International Religious Freedom Summit was held in Washington

On July 13-15, 2021, the International Religious Freedom Summit was held in Washington (USA). The Commission on International Religious Freedom and the US Congress organized the event, where more than 1,000 representatives of public authorities and civil society took part in the offline format, and more than 10,000 - in the online format.

It should be noted that on June 9 of this year President of Kazakhstan K. K. Tokayev signed a Decree "On further measures of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of human rights", the implementation of which will ensure a comprehensive modernization of the human rights sphere. Chairman of the Committee on Religious Affairs of the Ministry of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Nukezhanov made a speech during the summit, noting that Kazakhstan pays special attention to maintaining inter-confessional harmony in the country and ensuring the rights of believers to freedom of religion.

"Followers of all faiths and religions have ample opportunities in Kazakhstan to meet their spiritual needs. An example for the international community in establishing an interfaith, interreligious dialogue is the holding in our country since 2003 and every three years of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Each congress helped to strengthen ties between representatives of different religions and confessions, laid the foundations for the steady growth of trust and mutual respect between religious communities," E. Nukezhanov said.

On the margins of the Summit the Kazakh delegation met with the organizers of the event: former Ambassador-at-Large of the US State Department for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback and President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice Katrina Lantos Sweet. Negotiations were also held with Daniel Nadel, Director of the Office for International Religious Freedom of the State Department, and Nuri Turkel, Deputy Chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, where issues of ensuring religious freedom in Kazakhstan and further development of bilateral partnership with the United States were discussed.

As a result of meetings, the American side highly appreciated the positive dynamics in this area. In addition, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Committee on Religious Affairs of the Ministry of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the US non-governmental organization "Love Your Neighbor Community". It is expected that the memorandum will improve the dialogue between representatives of religious associations and the state on the implementation of religious freedoms and respect for fundamental human rights.