As part of the Days of Culture of Kazakhstan in Armenia, the grand opening of the Abai Kunanbayuly Park took place in Yerevan. The event was made possible thanks to the agreements reached by the Heads of State during the official visit of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Yerevan.

The event was attended by the head of the official delegation of Kazakhstan - Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan Aida Balaeva, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia Zhanna Andreasyan, First Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Armen Pambukhchyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Armenia Bolat Imanbayev, as well as representatives of the public of the two countries, residents and guests of the Armenian capital.

In a short speech at the opening of the memorial park, Aida Balaeva expressed gratitude to the leadership of Armenia and everyone who took part in the implementation of the project. The Minister emphasized that the current event symbolizes the beginning of a new stage in the development of cultural cooperation between the two countries.

“The park is dedicated to the founder of Kazakh written literature, the great poet and thinker Abai, whose legacy occupies a special place not only in Kazakh, but also in world culture. Around the same time, a year ago, during the official visit of our President to Armenia, an agreement was reached to assign one of the streets of Astana to Mesrop Mashtots on a parity basis. We see a reciprocal gesture from representatives of Armenia, testifying to the friendship and strengthening cultural ties between our countries and peoples,” the Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted.

Continuing the ceremony, the ministers of Kazakhstan and Armenia planted trees in the park - as a symbol of growth, strengthening and continuation of cultural ties between the two countries.

It should be noted that monuments, busts and memorial plaques dedicated to Abai have been installed in dozens of countries around the world - in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Georgia, Iran, Korea, China, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Romania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, France, Switzerland and Tatarstan (Russia).

The festive ceremony ended with a concert featuring the ensemble of dombra players of Kazakhstan with the work of Abai Kunanbayuly "Segiz ayak" and young talents of the Avan House of Culture. Guests also got acquainted with the Kazakh national culture, its modern literature and traditional cuisine of the Kazakh people.

The delegation headed by Aida Balaeva today visited the M. Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts "Matenadaran". Here, guests got acquainted with the Armenian manuscript heritage - ancient manuscripts with the alleged autograph of the creator of the Armenian alphabet.

The culmination of the events will be a gala concert, which will be held today in Yerevan, in the Aram Khachaturian Central Concert Hall.