ASTANA. March 5. KAZINFORM. /Damir Baimanov/ The presidents of Kazakhstan and Korea will open the Year of Kazakhstan in South Korea in April; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to Kazakhstan Lee Byung-hwa informed about it at the opening ceremony of the Korean cultural center in Astana.

"The decision to announce 2010 as the Year of Kazakhstan in Korea was initiated last year when our President visited Astana. This April Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will pay a visit to Korea. The two leaders will officially launch activities of the Year of Kazakhstan in Korea", the diplomat said on Thursday. He also noted that it was decided to announce 2011 as the Year of Korea in Kazakhstan.

Lee Byung-hwa emphasized that besides cultural cooperation the two states develop relations in such spheres as energy, tourism and information technologies. "March 17 the Kazakh-Korean intergovernmental commissions on economy and science will share experience in the field of IT industry in Astana", he said. As for the economic interaction, Korea is going to share experience with Kazakhstan in realization of the State Program of Forced Industrial and Innovative Development.