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Astana, Mar. 25 (ANI): delegation of nine cadets from the National Cadet Corps (NCC) led by two officers of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel are on a visit to Kazakhstan at the invitation of the Gumiliev Eurasian National University in Astana from 15-27 March, 2010.

An Indian embassy release said the visit is taking place under the aegis of the Youth Exchange Programme between India and Kazakhstan. This was launched in 2008.

So far, three delegations from Kazakhstan have visited India. The first two delegations from Kazakhstan were from the prestigious Abai National Pedagogical University in Almaty. The third delegation comprised of students from the Seifullin National Agro-Technical University and Gumiliev Eurasian National University, both based in Astana.

The delegations from Kazakhstan have visited India for 15 days in the second half of January each year. They participate in the training and familiarization camp organized by the NCC under which they witness the Republic Day Parade and get an opportunity to call on the President and Prime Minister of India.

They also travel to places like Agra and Jaipur and acquaint themselves with the historical and cultural heritage of the country. This year, Professor Abdiraiym Bakytzhan, Rector of the Gumiliev Eurasian National University also visited New Delhi for five days and had an audience with the President and Prime Minister of India.

The current delegation is the second from India to have come to Kazakhstan. It comprises of students from 9 different states of India, including Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand and others. The delegation truly represents the ethos of “unity in diversity” of India.

Speaking at a reception hosted for the NCC delegation, India’s Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Ashok Sajjanhar, said the team should use the visit to expose themselves and interact with people from different cultural, economic and social strata of Kazakhstan including government officials, journalists, artistes, businessmen, singers, painters, political activists as well as members of the Indian community.

Ambassador Sajjanhar expressed his satisfaction at the successful manner in which the Youth Exchange Programme is being implemented. He said that such visits and interactions between the people of the two countries provide important and useful opportunities to strengthen people-to-people contacts and promote understanding and cooperation between the people of the two countries.

Ambassador Sajjanhar also spoke of the ancient, historical and civilisational links between India and Kazakhstan and said that the two countries are poised at the threshold of a significant upgradation in their relations in all spheres, including political, commercial, economic, cultural, social, scientific, technological, education and others.

He warmly thanked the Rector and other organizers of this visit for their gracious hospitality and excellent arrangements made for the visit.

Lt Col Raghunath, one of the leaders of the NCC delegation warmly thanked the Embassy of India and the Gumiliev Eurasian National University for the extremely interesting and useful programme drawn up by them for the visit of the cadets from NCC. (ANI)