Nazarbayev's Visit To U.S. Signifies «Enhanced» Partnership Between The Countries - Alice Wells

ASTANA. KAZINFORM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells commented on Nursultan Nazarbayev's January visit to the United States. "Since 1991, when the United States became the first government to recognize Kazakhstan's independence, we have strongly supported Kazakhstan's emergence as a sovereign, independent nation. While our governments have worked together on trade, economic connectivity, and nuclear nonproliferation, our people have also built strong ties based on education, entrepreneurship, and energy. With President Nazarbayev's visit to Washington, D.C. and New York, the Trump administration reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to strengthening these vital people-to-people ties," Alice Wells pointed out. According to her, President Nazarbayev's visit signified our "enhanced" partnership with new opportunities available not only for our governments to connect and our businesses to do business, but for our people to interact, and their ideas to be shared. The U.S. government is particularly focused on bringing American technological ingenuity and digital culture to Kazakhstan's economy and its people. Through competitions like the 48-Hour Film Race, the Go Viral Festival, and the Central Asian Maker Faire, the United States is actively supporting Kazakhstan's young digital media innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs. Through partnerships forged by the U.S. mission in Kazakhstan, the country's citizens have been able to learn from leading American brands like Instagram and Google. Through cooperating with American colleagues, or receiving a U.S. education, we fully expect to see a young Kazakhstani become the next innovator to change the world with his or her vision of the future. "U.S. universities are among the global leaders in research and higher education and have much to offer the people of Kazakhstan. Last year, we welcomed almost 1,800 Kazakhstani students to study in U.S. universities and educational institutions. The United States has also been a significant supporter of Kazakhstan's "Bolashak" program, hosting over 2,300 students in the United States, with over 350 currently studying at U.S. institutions as part of the program. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is working with Nazarbayev University to establish a world-class oncology center, which will serve the citizens of Kazakhstan and all of Central Asia. Some of the very best American institutions such as Duke University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are also partnering with Nazarbayev University to develop and improve programs in business, education, the humanities and social sciences. We expect these exchanges to grow as Kazakhstan adopts the Latin alphabet and moves towards Kazakhstan's goal of becoming a trilingual society, making the global marketplace of ideas more accessible for Kazakhstan's citizens," the U.S. official noted. "The U.S. government also provides a large number of English language programs to support Kazakhstan in reaching these goals. During President Nazarbayev's visit, the U.S. administration agreed to redouble our efforts in Kazakhstan to promote English in 2018. Our goal is to enhance these and other opportunities for Kazakhstan's students to study in the United States' top universities and to learn English at home in Kazakhstan while underscoring the importance of an open civil society that facilitates such a free and constructive exchange of ideas. These are top priorities for U.S. engagement in Kazakhstan, and progress in these areas will help the people of Kazakhstan to compete in the global marketplace, and share their ideas and culture all over the world. Just as President Trump and President Nazarbayev pledged to maintain a close relationship, our countries will continue building stronger people-to-people ties through these increasingly important English language and educational programs," she concluded.