Public Council on the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan holds a regular meeting

NUR-SULTAN, 3 December 2019 — A regular meeting of the Public Council on the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Welcoming the participants of the meeting, Chairperson of the Public Council Mukhtar Yerman noted the importance of the Public Council as a permanent dialogue platform where Council members can actively participate in developing proposals and recommendations on pressing foreign policy issues.

In accordance with the agenda, four topics were discussed at the meeting: the results of the Zhusan special operation and the Rusafa campaign, the participation of Kazakhstani experts in foreign events devoted to the reforms in Kazakhstan, the organization of anniversary events in 2020 and the work of the Adaldyk Alany project office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Speaking to the Public Council, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Stanislav Vassilenko presented detailed information on the evacuation of Kazakhstani citizens from Syria and Iraq. As part of the four stages of Zhusan operations —in January, May and June — 595 Kazakhstani citizens were evacuated from Syria, including 33 men, 156 women and 406 children (31 of them were orphans). “On November 27, another 14 Kazakhstani children were returned from Iraq as a result of the Rusafa campaign”, Mr. Vassilenko explained.

Director of the Institute for Security and Cooperation in Central Asia Shavkat Sabirov made a speech on behalf of the civil society. In his report on the participation of Kazakhstani experts in foreign events dedicated to reforms in Kazakhstan, Mr. Sabirov drew attention to the roundtables recently organized in leading analytical centers such as the Atlantic Council, CSIS (USA) and Chatham House (Great Britain). “The involvement of the expert community is a significant tool in clarifying the political situation in the country”, the expert noted.

Then, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roman Vassilenko made a report on the anniversary events in 2020 (the 175th anniversary of Abay and the 1150th anniversary of al-Farabi), who informed the meeting about the development of the plan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the celebration of the two anniversaries. “The plan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Abay includes about 250 various events in 70 countries across the world”, the Deputy Minister said.

Mr. Vassilenko also added that a landmark in the organization of events was the decision of UNESCO to include the celebration of the 1150th anniversary of Abu Nasr al-Farabi in the international calendar of commemoration dates for next year.

In his speech on the work of the Adaldyk Alany project office, the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Seitimov spoke in detail about its activities, the purpose of which is to eradicate petty corruption and increase the level of citizens’ trust in the state body.

During the meeting, the members of the Council held discussions on the above topics, as well as making a number of relevant proposals which were reflected in the Protocol adopted at the end of the meeting.

The next meeting of the Public Council on the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan is scheduled for spring 2020.