Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met with two government officials of Kazakhstan in Nur-Sultan on May 27, 2022.
The Apostle spoke with Erzhan Kazykhan, deputy head of the administration of the president of the Kazakhstan and the president’s special representative for international cooperation, and Nukezhanov Yerzhan Bolatkanovich, chairman of the Ministry of Information and Social Development’s Committee for Religious Affairs.
Delighted to welcome Elder Quentin L. Cook, Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to 🇰🇿 this morning. Kazakhstan is a home to over 3700 religious associations that live in peace & harmony. LDS has a vibrant community in 🇰🇿 pic.twitter.com/joVdt0VqOl
— Erzhan Kazykhan (@ErzhanKazykhan) May 27, 2022
On behalf of local Latter-day Saints, Elder Cook expressed appreciation for Kazakhstan’s commitment to religious freedom and interfaith dialogue.
On Twitter, Kazykhan wrote that he was “delighted” to welcome Elder Cook. “Kazakhstan is a home to over 3,700 religious associations that live in peace & harmony,” Kazykhan said. “[The Church has] a vibrant community in Kazakhstan.”
The Kazakh leaders reiterated their invitation for the Church to participate in the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions (September 14–15) in Nur-Sultan. Church leaders (Elder Paul B. Piper, Elder Jörg Klebingat, and Elder Alexey Samaykin) have participated in this triennial event in previous years.
At the end of the meeting, Elder Cook presented Kazykhan with a family statue as a reminder of the family values important to the Church and to Kazakhstan. Kazykhan then gave Elder Cook a commemorative medal marking the 30th anniversary of the independence of Kazakhstan.
Elder Cook was joined by Elder Carl B. Cook of the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder Samaykin of the Europe East Area Presidency.