A meeting of volunteer organizations from Kazakhstan and Russia was held in Almaty in order to strengthen mutual cooperation.
The opening ceremony was attended by Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan Aida Balayeva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries Anton Rybakov, as well as representatives of volunteer movements of both countries.
Aida Balayeva congratulated those present on the upcoming International Volunteer Day. She noted the importance of partnership between the state and the volunteer community.
"President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pays great attention to the activities of volunteers. Especially the development of international cooperation in this area. Today, it is safe to say that the volunteer movement of Kazakhstan and Russia has turned into a powerful creative force and has become a clear example of self-organization of citizens, strengthening ties between people, peoples and helping to solve important social problems," the minister said.
She recalled that at the initiative of the Head of State, 2020 was declared the Year of Volunteerism in Kazakhstan, which gave a powerful impetus to the volunteer movement.
In her speech, Aida Balayeva also spoke about the measures of state support for volunteering in Kazakhstan.
Every year, government agencies, together with the volunteer community, implement over 50 projects with the provision of 240 small grants for the implementation of initiatives.
Today there are over 240 thousand active volunteers in our country, more than 740 volunteer organizations and more than 1 thousand initiative groups are working productively.
At the end of her speech, the Minister initiated a proposal to hold joint environmental actions, exhibitions, seminars and conferences in 2025 dedicated to the actualization of actions to protect nature.
Speaking at the meeting of volunteers, Anton Rybakov, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, thanked Kazakhstan for organizing the event.
"It is especially important that one of the main initiators of the promotion of joint projects to a qualitatively new level is the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Kazakhstan has considerable experience in working with volunteers. We fully support and hope that the importance of today's meeting lies in the fact that next year, as we plan, a full-fledged forum of volunteers from Russia and Kazakhstan called "Good Neighborliness" will be held. We hope that this will enrich the portfolio of joint projects in this area between our countries. Promoting the idea of volunteerism and attracting more people to the volunteer movement contributes to the consolidation of society, strengthening traditional moral and spiritual values," he concluded.
Educational lectures and training seminars were prepared for the volunteers as part of the rally.
The work of the Almaty community centers was also presented to the Russian guests.
Press Service of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/mam/press/news/details/889136