Berlin holds reception devoted to Independence Day of Kazakhstan

More than 1,000 guests have gathered to congratulate Kazakhstan on the national holiday. The event has been attended by prominent public and political figures of Germany, the Bundestag and the Landtags' deputies, senior officials of ministries and departments of culture, accredited diplomatic corps, representatives of the media, the Kazakh Diaspora, students and business circles of Germany. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle took part in the reception as well.

In his speech the Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Germany Nurlan Onzhanov outlined the main achievements and success of our country under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and informed the participants about current aspects of political and socio-economic development of Kazakhstan.

The diplomat thanked the representatives of Germany for fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation in the implementation of the agreements reached during the negotiations between Nursultan Nazarbayev and Angela Merkel in February 2012 in Berlin as well as for successful collaboration between our states in the framework of international organizations.

Positive assessment was given to the development of trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and Germany. Thus, for the three quarters of 2013 the volume of trade turnover between Germany and Kazakhstan increased by 14.7% and exceeded 4.7 billion euros.

During the event, the German partners expressed their best wishes to the people of Kazakhstan stressing the high potential of political and economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and the Federal Republic of Germany. The guests noted the growing prestige of our country in the international arena, high rates of socio-economic enhancement of Kazakhstan as well as the relevance and practical orientation of ''G-Global'' and "ATOM" projects.

The festive evening was decorated by virtuoso sound of Kazakh folk instruments performed by the folk ensemble under the aegis of Edil Khusainov. German viewers could enjoy a symbiosis of academic, modern and traditional music in the sound of Kazakh folk instruments including shankobyz, sybyzgy, saz-syrnaya, kaursyn-syrnaya, zhetygen, dombra etc.

According to the Kazakh tradition of hospitality there was organized a rich national festive table with dishes of the national cuisine.