Russia respects Kazakh switching to Latin-based alphabet - Ambassador
"Kazakhstan is one of the states where the Russian language is officially recognized by the Constitution. Russia understands and respects the decision of sovereign Kazakhstan with regard to the forthcoming transition of the state language to a Latin-based alphabet. At the same time, the status of the Russian language, judging from firm statements of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and other officials of the Republic of Kazakhstan, will remain unchanged, and it will continue to be taught as well as remain the language of instruction in secondary schools in Kazakhstan, since the fluency in Russian is considered by the country's leadership an important cultural advantage of Kazakhstan," he said speaking at a meeting of parliamentarians of the two countries.
"We already hear from the official institutions of Kazakhstan about the high demand for Russian language teachers, the interest in increasing their number, as well as the openings of new branches of Russian universities in Kazakhstan. And Russia is focused on rendering assistance in that respect," he added.
As previously reported, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the decree to switch the country's official alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin one. According to the Head of State, the reform is an important part of the announced modernization program.