ASTANA: The National Academic Library in Astana and Auezov Institute of Literature and Art held an international conference on the 95th anniversary of Chingiz Aitmatov, the Kyrgyz renowned writer and statesman in the Kazakh capital.
Aitmatov’s legacy is the national pride for the Kyrgyz Republic and a cultural heritage for Central Asia. The author is known for his diplomatic career, journalistic and translation activities. 
Apart from Kazakh academics and creative figures, the cultural event welcomed foreign diplomats of the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, and Azerbaijan, scientists and philologists, the university professors, and students from Astana. Representatives of the National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian State Library, the National Library of Russia, the Margarita Rudomino All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature also participated in the conference.
In an interview with The Astana Times, Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic to Kazakhstan Dastan Dyushekeyev underlined the need to carry out more joint initiatives, whether they are humanitarian, economic, or military.
“The Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan have strategic, allied, partnership relations, and, of course, fraternal ties. Most of all, we are united by culture. Our common roots strengthen our spiritual interaction. Therefore, we should organize more conferences, forums, literary and creative evenings in this area,” said Dyushekeyev.
In 1990, Aitmatov himself was appointed as the head of the Soviet diplomatic mission in Luxembourg. From 1994 to 2008, he was the Kyrgyz ambassador to the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) and France, the permanent representative to UNESCO and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
He also served as an advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev, the only President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
