Mohamed Salamah
Every December 1, the people of Kazakhstan celebrate the first President’s Day. In this context, Ambassador Khairat Lama Sharif, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Cairo, organized a round table that included many ambassadors, diplomats, media professionals, journalists, Mamluk antiquities experts and businessmen at his residence.
Mr Sharif delivered an important speech praising the historical relations between Egypt and Kazakhstan, and that the celebration of this occasion represents a very important event for Kazakhstan, where in 1991, President Nursultan was elected president of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, and two weeks later Nazarbayev declared Kazakhstan’s independence, and he became the first president of independent Kazakhstan.
Lama added that President Nazarbayev made tremendous achievements and changed the face of life in Kazakhstan as the historical leader of the nation and the founder of the modern independent state that ensured the unity of the constitution and the protection of independence, human rights, civil rights and freedoms.
Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Cairo, referred to some of the Kyrgyz achievements made under the leadership of President Nazarbayev, including the transition to a market economy instead of a centrally socialist planned economy, which led to raising the standard of living for citizens, establishing a democratic state, and strengthening state sovereignty, security and stability. He called for the development of the country on the principle of economy first, then politics.
Ambassador Khairat Lama listed the tremendous developments after three decades of independence, as Kazakhstan became a leading country in implementing market economy reforms, and the European Union recognized its leadership in this. Which led to attracting 350 billion foreign direct investment, which represents 70 percent of the total investment flow in Central Asia. The size of the domestic product grew 18 times, the establishment of 1250 new industrial establishments and 300,000 job opportunities.
Ambassador Khairat Lama added that in 2006, according to World Bank data, Kazakhstan entered the group of the highest income countries, and in 2012 Kazakhstan entered the list of the 50 most competitive economies in the world and exports 2,500 goods to more than 100 countries.
He stressed that President Nur Sultan’s visit to Egypt and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s visit to Kazakhstan gave a great boost to relations, especially in the cultural and educational field, and next March we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of relations between the two countries.
The researcher, Ahmed Trabek, gave a speech in which he enumerated the achievements of the first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and presented his new book: “Nur-Sultan Nazarbayev in the Modern History of Kazakhstan.”
Taghreed Hussein, head of Nile TV, gave a speech in which she praised the relations between Egypt and Kazakhstan, especially in the media field, and that Kazakhstan has become a development model referred to in the field of reforms, development, renaissance and raising the standard of living, and that relations between the two countries are getting stronger in light of the historical relations between the two countries.
Also, journalist Mohamed Salama gave a speech about President Nur Sultan’s interest in the spiritual aspect and its impact on cooperation and peace. He noted President Nazarbayev’s call to hold a conference of leaders of world and traditional religions in the capital, Nur-Sultan. The first conference was held in 2003. Conferences continued every three years until the sixth conference in 2018, and the seventh conference will be held next May.
Salama added that President Nur Sultan stressed the dialogue between the followers of religions as a duty in order to eliminate confusion, misunderstanding and prejudice.. Therefore, he issued a book that explains, analyzes and monitors President Nursultan’s speeches at interfaith conferences entitled “President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the Conference of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, which was issued in 2010 and effectively attended the third conference in 2009 and after he witnessed the president’s great keenness to hold the Conference of Religious leaders to the extent that he allocated a private plane The late Grand Imam, Dr. Sayed Tantawi, Sheikh of Al-Azhar, and the late Dr. Hamdi Zaqzouq, Minister of Endowments, accompanied by some journalists, including Salamah, to the capital, Nur Sultan, and to return to Egypt in appreciation of the role of Al-Azhar and the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments.
“President Tur Sultan met with us in his office, expressing his deep appreciation for the role of Al-Azhar as a beacon and university for the moderate Islamic religion.”, Salamah added.
In his sermons, President Nur Sultan called for the necessity of the clerics’ involvement in the problems of societies, providing solutions, establishing the principle of dialogue and respecting the privacy of each society’s culture, and that the world strive to solve the crisis of hunger and poverty that pushes young people to illegal immigration and death at sea or on land, and that countries seek to give more Humanitarian on globalization in light of the crises of terrorism, nuclear threat, COVID-19 and climate change.
