On December 6, 2022, ENU hosted a cultural event dedicated to the celebration of the World Day of the Arabic Language, which is included in the official holidays of UNESCO and is celebrated on December 18, starting from 2012. It was on December 18, 1973 that the UN General Assembly voted for Arabic to become the sixth official language of the UN.

               The event was organized by the Department of Oriental Studies, one of the activities of which is the training of specialists in the field of Arabic studies, and the Embassy of Egypt in Kazakhstan.

               In his welcoming speech, Rector E.B. Sydykov noted that the number of applicants to ENU is increasing from year to year, and among them there is a constant interest in the study of Arab countries, the Arabic language, history, culture and politics. “This circumstance seems to be quite natural, our peoples have centuries-old relations in various fields. This collaboration continues to this day. We are very pleased to develop our contacts in the field of science, education and culture. In 2015, an Arabic studies room was opened at the ENU with the assistance of the embassies of the Arab countries, which is constantly updated with new books and publications kindly provided by the Arab side,” the chairman of the board emphasized. Among the promising areas of cooperation, the head of the university pointed to the translation of Abai's works into Arabic and the popularization of his work among the Arabic-speaking audience.

               Currently, 50 students and undergraduates of the specialties "oriental studies", "regional studies" and "international relations" study Arabic as the main and second foreign language at ENU. Interest in the Arabic language is constant and is associated with the cultural and historical contacts of Kazakhstan with the Arab world, the community of religions, personalities (al-Farabi, Sultan Beibars, Nazir Tyuryakulov, Samat Sundetbaev, Malik Fazylov, etc.).

               Today, Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world (the area of ​​its operation covers almost 60 states of the world, mainly Islamic, in addition to other countries where representatives of the Arab diaspora also live), it is among the top five in terms of the number of speakers - over 700 million people.

               The event was aimed at popularizing knowledge about the Arabic language and demonstrating the language and regional studies skills and abilities of students and undergraduates of the Arabic department of the Department of Oriental Studies of the ENU. The students had the opportunity to "live" to communicate with native speakers, ask questions of interest to them.

               The celebration was attended by heads and employees of diplomatic missions of 12 Arab countries (Palestine - Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Libya, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq), Indonesia, South Africa, accredited in Kazakhstan , CICA Secretary General K.Sh. Sarybai, former Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Kuwait, now Director of the International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Department of the Islamic Food Security Organization D.T. Emberdiev, Head of the Department of the Middle East and Africa of the Department of the Near, Middle East and Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan K.R. Bolysbaev, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs E.A. Ongarbaev, Dean of the Faculty of International Relations M.M. Kosybaev, Dean of the Faculty of History T.S. Sadykov, management and teaching staff of the Department of Oriental Studies, mass media.

 

               At the end of the event, the Arab embassies awarded letters of thanks to the teachers of the Arabic department of the Department of Oriental Studies, presented mementoes and books to students, organized a buffet table, where Egyptian cuisine dishes were also presented - "kushari" and hibiscus tea. In addition, those present could get acquainted with the Moroccan tea ceremony and taste the wonderful sweets of the country, whose team managed to reach the quarter finals at the World Cup, which is taking place these days in Qatar. The Ambassador of Morocco donated the scientific works of Moroccan scientists to the Cabinet of Arabic studies.