Culture And Media
Kazakhstan: Culture minister celebrates links with Italy
Astana, 3 Nov. (AKI) - Kazakhstan is spending 1.7 million euros on the reconstruction of a church damaged by the devastating earthquake that struck the central region of Abruzzo this year. Kazakh culture minister Mukhtar A. Kul-Mukhamed told Adnkronos in an exclusive interview that the people of his country were passionate about Italian culture and deeply moved by the destruction caused by the earthquake which reached 6.3 on the Richter scale.
He said his country had made a commitment to rebuild the Church of San Biagio in Amiterno.
Kul-Mukhamed was speaking on the eve of a two-day state visit to Italy by Kazakhstan's president Nursultan Nazarbayev that begins on Wednesday. Nazarbayev will meet Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and Pope Benedict XVI during his visit.
"The people of Kazakhstan were very upset by the earthquake in Italy and so the government decided to restore a piece of Italian culture that is part of the heritage of the whole world," he said.
Abruzzo has been hit by scores of aftershocks since the earthquake on 6 April and the region is still struggling to recover.
The earthquake killed nearly 300 people, injured thousands and displaced 50,000 people in the city of L'Aquila and surrounding villages.
President Nazarbayev and prime minister Berlusconi are expected to sign five bilateral accords during his visit while Italian companies will endorse another 13 commercial agreements with companies in Kazakhstan.
Kul-Mukhamed stressed that cultural links between the two countries were very strong.
"We love Italian music up to Andrea Bocelli and particularly the operas of Verdi and Puccini ," he said.
"Our young singers take to the stage at La Scala ( the famous Milan opera house), they study Petrarca and Dante (Italian poets) at school.
"We to look to Italy and Europe for cultural tourism projects, as well as consolidating trade links. Many travellers who pass through Asia call the Kazakhs the 'Italians of Asia'," he said.
"Like Italians we love the beauty of nature, architecture and literature and we are brought up with the painters of the Medieval period."
He said his country had made a commitment to rebuild the Church of San Biagio in Amiterno.
Kul-Mukhamed was speaking on the eve of a two-day state visit to Italy by Kazakhstan's president Nursultan Nazarbayev that begins on Wednesday. Nazarbayev will meet Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and Pope Benedict XVI during his visit.
"The people of Kazakhstan were very upset by the earthquake in Italy and so the government decided to restore a piece of Italian culture that is part of the heritage of the whole world," he said.
Abruzzo has been hit by scores of aftershocks since the earthquake on 6 April and the region is still struggling to recover.
The earthquake killed nearly 300 people, injured thousands and displaced 50,000 people in the city of L'Aquila and surrounding villages.
President Nazarbayev and prime minister Berlusconi are expected to sign five bilateral accords during his visit while Italian companies will endorse another 13 commercial agreements with companies in Kazakhstan.
Kul-Mukhamed stressed that cultural links between the two countries were very strong.
"We love Italian music up to Andrea Bocelli and particularly the operas of Verdi and Puccini ," he said.
"Our young singers take to the stage at La Scala ( the famous Milan opera house), they study Petrarca and Dante (Italian poets) at school.
"We to look to Italy and Europe for cultural tourism projects, as well as consolidating trade links. Many travellers who pass through Asia call the Kazakhs the 'Italians of Asia'," he said.
"Like Italians we love the beauty of nature, architecture and literature and we are brought up with the painters of the Medieval period."
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