The New Identity of Kazakhstan programme was launched at the London Book Fair. The event was attended by heads of international publishing houses, management of the British Council, literary agents and journalists.
In his welcoming address, Ambassador Idrissov provided attendees with a detailed overview of the ‘New Identity of Kazakhstan’ state programme, which was launched one year ago at the initiative of President Nazarbayev. This programme is part of a large-scale reform of Kazakhstan, and aims to modernise the thinking and attitudes of the citizens of the country.
Mr Idrissov informed guests about several substantial projects being implemented as part of the ‘New Identity of Kazakhstan’ programme. In particular, attendees were given an overview of the reforms which are taking place to switch the Kazakh language to the Latin alphabet, alongside other projects such as ‘Homeland’, ‘Spiritual Holy Sites of Kazakhstan’, ‘Modern Kazakh Culture in the Global World’, and ‘100 New Faces of Kazakhstan’.
The Ambassador also introduced the project ‘New Humanitarian Knowledge – 100 new textbooks in the Kazakh language’ to the audience. This project is one of the key elements of the ‘New Identity of Kazakhstan’ programme. As part of the project, the National Translation Bureau, under the leadership of Mr Rauan Kenzhekhanuly, has already translated and published 18 leading textbooks on history, political science, sociology, philosophy, psychology, culture, economics and linguistics from English, French and Russian into Kazakh.
The textbooks translated by the National Translation Bureau include ‘Ancient Philosophy’ and ‘A New History of Western Philosophy’ by the English philosopher Sir Anthony Kenny, and ‘Economics’ by American scholars Gregory Mankiw and Mark Taylor, alongside others. Over the coming years there are plans to translate up to 100 of the world’s greatest textbooks on humanitarian sciences into Kazakh to provide national universities with quality textbooks.
