It's right time for Vietnam and Kazakhstan to arrange visits at the highest level, as well as enhance traditional cooperation and friendship, Kazakh Ambassador to Vietnam Yerlan Baizhanov said at a roundtable held in Hanoi this week.

The event was jointly organized by the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics on the occasion of Kazakhstan’s Independence Day (December 16), towards the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries (June 29, 1992-2022).

Ambassador Bayzhanov briefed his host on the 30-year cause of construction and development in Kazakhstan, with its gross domestic product (GDP) increasing 17 times, from US$11.4 billion to US$ 188.9 billion.

He stressed that the relationship between Vietnam and Kazakhstan has developed in the spirit of friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Kazakh Ambassador to Vietnam Yerlan Baizhanov (right) speaks at the roundtable. Photo: Thu Lan

Besides cooperation in traditional spheres as culture and education, Vietnam and Kazakhstan should work to boost economic ties, the ambassador noted.

At the event, Vietnamese diplomats, researchers and scholars also proposed solutions to enhance the traditional cooperative relations and friendship in the coming time.

Over the past time, the embassy of Kazakhstan in Vietnam has made active efforts to implement many translation and book and film publishing activities, Bayzhanov said.

Previously, the book, entitled “Những Lời Răn Của Abai” (The Book of Words) by celebrated Kazakh poet, composer and philosopher Abai Kunanbaev was published in Vietnamese in 2020.

The Book of Words is the second Kazakh literary work published in Vietnam. The first by another Kazakh author was released in the 1970s and also featured Kunanbaev's life and career.

Currently, the translation into Vietnamese of the Kazakh historical novel "The Nomads" by Ilyas Yesenberlin has been completed, and a collection of Kazakh folk tales is scheduled to be released during Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, the ambassador added.

For her part, Nguyen Phuong Nga, president of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), expressed joy at the achievements of historical significance that Kazakhstan had achieved during 30 years of renovation and development of the country.

"I was impressed with the miraculous achievements that Kazakhstan has achieved when I had been to Kazakhstan," Nga said.

The VUFO president emphasized that cooperation and people-to-people exchanges created a very solid foundation for the relationship between the two countries.

“During Ambassador Baizhanov's tenure, there has been a strong development in people-to-people exchanges between Vietnam and Kazakhstan through books, films, rich traditional culture and the art of Kazakhstan,” Nga added.

She expressed her belief that the people-to-people exchange between Vietnam and Kazakhstan was an area that will be promoted in the time ahead and bilateral relations will develop, as well as meet the aspirations and feelings of the people of the two countries.