Kazakh Ambassador to USA conducts regional visit to State of Utah

From January 15 to January 17, 2020, the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United States, Yerzhan Kazykhanov, made a working visit to Utah, during which he met with Governor Gary Herbert, President of Brigham Young University Kevin Worthen, Director of the Utah World Trade Center Miles Hansen, as well as with representatives of local American companies.

At the meeting with the Governor of Utah, the parties discussed the development of bilateral relations, along with promising areas of cooperation with the state of Utah.

The Ambassador had a meeting with the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, during which he outlined the work carried out by Kazakhstan to strengthen interreligious and interfaith dialogue and the country's efforts in peacekeeping and humanitarian projects, as well as the maintenance  of regional and international security.

Representatives of the Mormon community were especially interested in the initiative of the First President, Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev, of holding the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. In particular, the American side considered the possibility of participation of church representatives in the upcoming seventh Congress in 2021.

With the hope of strengthening contacts with Utah-based companies, the prospects for cooperation in tourism and promoting the export of domestic goods to the American market were discussed at the meeting with Mr. Hansen.

The Kazakh diplomat also visited Brigham Young University, where he delivered a lecture to the students themed “Kazakhstan and the United States in 2020: New Decade of Partnership”, and answered all questions asked by the audience.

As part of the development of cultural and humanitarian relations between the two countries, on the 175th Anniversary of Abay Kunanbayev and the 1150th Anniversary of Al-Farabi, Ambassador Kazykhanov bestowed a two-volume anthology of Kazakh literature and commemorative coins of Al-Farabi to the President of the University.

Brigham Young University is one of the largest religious universities in the United States, with more than 32,000 students. In 2019, the University took first place in the Forbes and The Wall Street Journal ranking in terms of price and quality of education.

Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the main branch of the Latter-day Saints restoration movement, established by religious figure Joseph Smith Jr. in upstate New York in the 1920s.