ASTANA – The 21st session of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan (APK) will be held April 18 at Astana’s Palace of Independence. The session will focus on the Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy and fostering a culture of peace, spirituality and harmony.
“Ideological problems are the basis of the current crisis the world is facing. That is why the topic of the assembly is so important,” Vice Chairman of the Association of Russian, Slavic and Cossack Organisations of Kazakhstan Anatoly Bashmakov said at a March 26 Central Communications Service media briefing.
“About 1,500 people are expected to attend the event, among them members of the Assembly and representatives of the diplomatic corps, the mass media, international nongovernmental organisations and the clergy,” said head of the secretariat of the Assembly Nazipa Shanai at the briefing.
The session will include meetings with deputies of Kazakhstan’s Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament), including nine deputies of the Mazhilis who are elected by the APK and excursions around Astana for delegates coming from the regions. The Assembly’s Council will also hold an extended meeting the day before the session begins.
The assembly’s current makeup is a good example of national unity and equal representation of every nation, Bashmakov said. “The Assembly has done a great job to change not only the structure, but also the content of the organisation over recent years.”
The recent briefing also discussed the opening of Departments of Tolerance in Kazakh universities. The Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan opened the first such department at the Eurasian National University (ENU) in Astana; state universities in Kostanai, Pavlodar and Kyzylorda are next on the list. The departments are meant to instill a sense of tolerance and respect for others among students, as well as help them learn the histories of the different ethnic groups represented in Kazakhstan.
“I believe the Departments of Tolerance will teach ENU students the virtues of tolerance, culture and respect for people of different nationalities. These are eternal concepts of good relations among peoples. These departments will explain to the students these concepts,” Bashmakov said.
