ASTANA – Kazakhstan biker and president of the International Children’s Geographic Society Dmitry Petrukhin is publicising EXPO 2017 in the United States. And he has already spread its message from Arizona to Washington, DC
From the Caribbean, he has set off to the American continent on his motorbike with the flag of Kazakhstan.
Petrukhin’s latest mission as a “goodwill ambassador” also includes the promotion of a new international project of the Kazakhstan Geographic Society called the Young Travellers Club. Its main task is to create a platform of extensive knowledge in geography, tourism and international relations to unite young people of all countries on a single web portal.
The programme will also disseminate information about the geography and history of Kazakhstan to a global audience.
In his North America travels, Petrukhin will invite the public to support the new project and visit EXPO 2017. He will also promote the 28th World Winter Universiade to be held in Almaty in 2017. Petrukhin’s first stop was the city of Tucson in southern Arizona which since 1991 has become a twin city to Almaty.
Jerry Garry, the chairman of the Twin Cities Committee received Petrukhin in his headquarters with officials from the city’s sports and tourism departments, Chamber of Commerce, scientists and Kazakhstan students studying in the United States on the Bolashak programme.
It was Petrukhin’s second visit to Tucson. His first was in 2005. Garry accepted Petrukhin’s invitation to visit the EXPO and the Universiade. He said a Tucson delegation would participate in both events.
The Tucson city government is also preparing a formal invitation for Almaty Mayor Akhmetzhan Yessimov to make a return visit in November.
From Tucson, the biker went to Washington D.C., where he met with Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the United States Kairat Umarov. They first met in India in 2009, when Petrukhin was touring the Middle East and Asia to publicise the seventh Asian Winter Games.
Ambassador Umarov supported Petrukhin’s plans to visit the countries of South America, where little is known about Kazakhstan to build bridges of cooperation and mutually beneficial relations with them.
Petrukhin met Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Byrganym Aitimova and its Consul General in New York Raushan Yesbulatova. He also met Kazakhstan students studying in the United States.
Petrukhin also appeared on the U.S. radio talk show “Davidson.” Next, he plans to go to Latin America, and promote Kazakhstan and EXPO 2017 in Brazil.
