Kazakhstan diplomat awarded with Knight's Cross

The ceremony of awarding the Knight’s Cross decoration to Kazakhstan diplomat, Minister-Counselor Rymtai Karibzhanov, was held in the residency of the ambassador of Hungary in Astana, Tengrinews.kz reports. Handing the decoration Hungary’s Minister of National Economy Mihaly Varga said that since establishment of the diplomatic relations Karibzhanov made productive and efficient diplomatic work to develop and expand bilateral cooperation. In this relation, Hungary’s government made a decision to award the Knight’s Cross decoration to the Kazakhstan diplomat. “This is the first case in the history of Hungary when a foreign citizen becomes a chevalier of the Knight’s Cross. Before the decoration was awarded to Hungarian citizens only,” Varga said. He jokingly added that he considered Karibzhanov “half Magyar”, stressing that he would like to express his respect to Kazakhstan diplomat in such a way. Karibzhanov thanked the Minister for the high appreciation of his work, stressing that this award demonstrates recognition of Kazakhstan’s modern role at the global arena. The commendation says that Karibzhanov is awarded with the high award of Hungarian government “in recognition of the merits in development and maintenance of Kazakhstan-Hungarian political and economic relations”.