ASTANA – Days of Astana Culture will be held in the Kazakh capital’s twin city, St. Petersburg, Russia, on May 17-18. The celebration is being organised as part of the cooperation agreement concluded between the two states.
According to the mayor of Astana’s press service, because Astana and St. Petersburg are twin towns, they conduct large-scale cooperation in town planning, communal services, entrepreneurship, tourism and other fields. After the creation of the Custom Union, there is a growing business development between Kazakhstan and Russia. At the moment, there are more than 4,000 Russian enterprises in Kazakhstan and Kazakhstan is Russia’s third-largest trade partner among the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Cultural and social ties between the two cities are strong. During the Astana-St. Petersburg Business Forum in November 2013, a memorandum on strategic and investment cooperation was signed between Kazakhstan, the Russian Medical University and the diagnostic and treatment centre of the Sergey Berezin International Institute of Biological Systems, giving Kazakh students the opportunity to study in Russian medical institutions. Nine medical workers from Astana completed internships in St. Petersburg in 2012; in 2013, the number grew to 27. In the first quarter of this year, four medical workers were trained in Russia.
