Ambassador held a hybrid briefing for representatives of the leading media in Singapore and Southeast Asia

On January 18 2022, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Singapore Arken Arystanov held a hybrid briefing for representatives of the leading media in Singapore and Southeast Asia (Straits Times, South China Morning Post, Channel News Asia, etc.), where they were informed about the current situation in Kazakhstan and the address delivered by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at a special session of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Ambassador gave complete chronology of events that started as peaceful rallies in the Mangystau region and turned into tragic events in Almaty and other cities of Kazakhstan. He noted that terrorist groups tried to undermine the constitutional order of the country, committed massive armed attacks on administrative institutions, police units, civilians, including medical workers, firefighters and journalists.

He pointed that the analysis of the situation showed that Kazakhstan was subjected to armed aggression by well-coordinated terrorist groups trained abroad. In this regard, a state of emergency was introduced throughout Kazakhstan, an anti-terrorist operation was launched, the Head of state appealed to the CSTO member states with a request to send peacekeeping forces to help stabilize the situation in the country.

It was noted that law enforcement agencies and the armed forces of Kazakhstan resisted terrorists, not «peaceful protesters».

Special attention was paid to the instructions of the Head of State on the further socio-economic development of the country and the implementation of political reforms in the Republic.

It was also noted that foreign investments and business of foreign companies, including Singapore, are protected. The Embassy confirmed stable relations with international partners on all topical issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

The briefing was attended in an offline format by Honorary Secretary of the Singapore Press Club Santosh Kumar, visiting Professor of the Graduate School of Public Policy of Nazarbayev University Basskaran Nair, Chief Researcher of the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore Alessandro Arduino, as well as Senior editor of Channel News Asia Jeremy Koh.