ASTANA. KAZINFORM Today Kazakhstan and the Vatican celebrate a historical landmark - the 30th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.Over these three decades, Kazakhstan and the Holy See have developed friendly ties and multifaceted cooperation based on strong ties of mutual respect and common priorities, the Kazakh MFA’s press service reports. Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian state to have signed a relationship agreement with the Vatican (1998), and in 2001 became the first country in the region to receive the Head of the Catholic Church.
    In recent years, the visits of Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Maulen Ashimbayev (November 2021) and Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tileuberdi (May 2022) to the Vatican have become evidence of the established close and trusting dialogue.
    This year, the contractual and legal framework of the Kazakh-Vatican cooperation has significantly expanded. In particular, a Memorandum of cooperation was signed between the University Medical Center of Kazakhstan and the Bambino Gesu Hospital, a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Suleymanov Institute of Oriental Studies and the Vatican Apostolic Library, as well as an Additional Agreement to the 1998 Relationship Agreement aimed at further deepening cooperation.
    2022 is a special year in the history of the development of bilateral relations, taking into account the state (apostolic) visit of Pope Francis to the Kazakhstan’s capital on 13-14 September, during which the head of the Catholic Church took part in the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, held a Holy Mass for several thousand pilgrims and addressed representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps, quoting the great Abai and demonstrating deep knowledge of Kazakh culture by invoking the symbol of the dombra.
    As noted by the Pope, Kazakhstan plays a special role in building interreligious and intercivilizational dialogue, being a «place of meeting and dialogue».
    Kazakhstan shares the global vision of the Catholic Church based on the ideals of goodness, justice, solidarity and compassion. In this regard, our country intends to continue pursuing a course aimed at comprehensively strengthening and developing cooperation with the Holy Photo:gov.kz