To celebrate his country's 20th anniversary, His Excellency Dr. Askar Mussinov, Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the UAE, delivered an engaging lecture on the bilateral relations between the two countries, at the Main Building of American University of Sharjah (AUS) today Wednesday, October 19.

The event was attended by Dr. Peter Heath, AUS Chancellor who welcomed Dr. Mussinov to AUS, Salem Al Qaseer, Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs and senior AUS officials. It also drew a large number of students and faculty members.

"The government and the people of the UAE have been good partners in development. We have had good brotherly relations between our countries and our people and we hope that it will continue grow and prosper," said Dr. Mussinov on the growing relationship between his country and the UAE.

According to the ambassador, the UAE has invested in a number of commercial and infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan. Following a decision by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, the UAE is building the Abu Dhabi Plaza, a complex with residential and commercial towers in Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan. He said the UAE is also building a modern medical facility as well as a central mosque in Astana.

"Even Al Hilal Bank, the UAE's Islamic bank owned by the government, opened its first ever foreign branches in Kazakhstan and so far they are the only foreign branches of the bank," said the Ambassador.

"We also want to expand our trade opportunities with the UAE. As an exporting country we want to export more of our goods to the UAE for local consumption and for re-export to the region, to the Indian sub-continent, to Africa and to the West as UAE's re-export infrastructure is well established," he added.

Ambassador Mussinov moved to Abu Dhabi in 2006 following the decision to open his country's embassy in the UAE. He had served earlier as Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Countries from 2002 as well as the Arab Republic of Egypt and North African Countries from 1999. He is also the current Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).