KAIRAT ABUSEITOV STATE ACTOR, DIPLOMAT: KAZNU WAS ALWAYS A FLAGSHIP AND REMAINS

The well-known statesman, diplomat, head of the Center for International Programs of the Foundation of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairat Abuseitov recently visited the Al-Farabi KazNU, where he studied and taught in the 80s. After the official part of his visit to the alma mater, the diplomat gave an exclusive interview for the Kazakh University newspaper.

- Kairat Huatovich, you started your career as a history teacher at a university. How did you choose your profession?

- Since childhood, I was inclined towards the humanities. Unfortunately, the exact sciences are still a mystery to me. Therefore, I chose the history faculty of the Kazakh State University named after S.M. Kirov, a special department with English. Here we received very serious fundamental knowledge about history. The teachers from the Department of General History Zharas Ibrashev, Gulzhaukhar Zhanbatyrova and others were of great importance. The Department of General History has been studying from Ancient Rome to modern history. We were intensively taught European topics, the histories of other countries, although the main forces were directed to domestic, Kazakh history.

- What skills have you acquired within the walls of the Kazakh State University named after SM Kirov and how did they help you in the future?

- It so happened that I was the first to defend my Ph.D. thesis on the United States of America in Kazakhstan. It was back in 1985. The knowledge, the baggage that I acquired at the university helped me a lot in this. Then he completed his postgraduate studies at Moscow State University. MV Lomonosov and returned as a teacher at the Kazakh State University. S.M. Kirov. My work activity starts from here.

- Kairat Huatovich, you have worked as a diplomat in European states for many years. Which country inspired you the most?

- Each country has its own pros and cons. It is difficult to single out one of the states where I liked it more. Of course, I was more impressed by my stay in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. There I spent 7 years as an ambassador. It is a country with a rich history. From the very first days there was a feeling that they understood you there. You know, this is an important feeling, because hardly anyone in the world knows more about our region, about Kazakhstan, than the British School of Oriental Studies, traditional experts. From the 19th century onwards, the British began their colonial policy. They have a strong school, they knew to subtlety, they understood what the Great Steppe was. In my opinion, the British and French schools are still the strongest. It is clear that many experts work for the special services and political bodies, but their information from eastern sources is available to a wide range of people. I think this is very good.

- What childhood dreams did you realize?

- As a child, I did not dream and did not think that I would be an ambassador. But my mother encouraged me to become a diplomat, that this job would suit me. As a teenager, he went to a music school and at the same time played football, was on the national team of Kazakhstan. In the 9-10th grade I studied English intensively, in the future it helped me a lot. The wife of the repressed USSR ambassador to China, Antonina Mikhailovna, came to teach me English. She was then not allowed to travel to Moscow and stayed to live in Kazakhstan. A childhood dream to enter a university came true, then, after university, he entered the graduate school of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov. For me, Moscow State University was a very large school, which gave a lot for my future career. My teachers were famous Russian historians - the late Professor Yevgeny Fedorovich Yazkov and Nikolai Vasilyevich Sivachev, owed a lot to them.

- Everyone knows you as a diplomat, nevertheless you are often invited to lecture for different audiences. In your opinion, what qualities should a university teacher have?

- In my opinion, any teacher of a higher educational institution should be an intellectual, a role model for students. He must thoroughly know his subject. I would say that any education is a two-way traffic, that is, on the one hand, a teacher, on the other hand, a student. If one component is missing here, there is no education. Al-Farabi Kazakh State University has always been the flagship and remains the flagship among the country's higher educational institutions. Here, there is all the condition - to aggravate, clarify, expand your knowledge in any direction of science, there are great opportunities for scientific discoveries, innovative projects. Teachers should be able to motivate students and guide them in the right direction. A teacher in a student audience must have, to capture that atmosphere, at least try to understand what the student is "breathing". This is also a very important point in the work of a teacher. Whether it is a teacher or a student, the most important thing is that there must be an interest in science.

- Do you consider yourself an example to follow? What advice can you give to students - future diplomats?

- I do not consider myself an example to follow. For future diplomats, I will say that first of all you need to study, raise your intellectual level. Appreciate your study time. The most important and very important thing is not to bite your elbows later. My main advice to students who want to become diplomats is to do science, acquire, acquire and acquire knowledge again and again. Draw knowledge from different sources while you have the opportunity and time. Then, when you start practical work, another life begins, there will be no opportunity to learn.

- Thank you. Good luck!

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Interviewed by Kairzhan TUREZHANOV

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ABUSEITOV KAYRAT KHUATOVICH was born on October 20, 1955 in the city of Alma-Ata. Graduated from the Faculty of History of the Kazakh State University. S.M. Kirov. After graduation, he worked as a teacher at the Semipalatinsk Pedagogical Institute. Graduated from the postgraduate study of the Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov. From 1985 to 1989 - after graduating from graduate school, he worked as an assistant, senior lecturer, deputy dean of KazSU. From 1989 to 1992 - Associate Professor of the Department of World Politics and International Relations of the Almaty Higher Party School, then the Almaty Institute of Political Science and Management. From 1992 to 1993 - Head of the Foreign Policy and National Security Program of the Center for Strategic Studies of the Kazakh Institute of Management, Economics and Forecasting under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 1993-1996, he held senior diplomatic posts in the Central Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.

From 1996 to 1998 - Counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the United States. From 1998 to 1999 - Deputy Director of the First Department, Director of the First Department, Director of the Multilateral Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.

From 1999 to 2002 - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From October 2, 2002 to 2004 - First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From October 4, 2004 to January 17, 2008 - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to the Swiss Confederation, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, concurrently.

Since January 17, 2008 - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and since August 5, 2008 - Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Ireland, the Republic of Iceland, the Kingdom of Sweden concurrently.