Astana, Feb. 7: The Kazakh city of Astana plans to host the first international congress of the Kazakh linguists to mark the 10th anniversary of its creation..

The event will take place in the first week of July this year, the chairman of the Languages Committee of Culture and Information Ministry, Erden Kazhibek, said.

Kazhibek said that the government is attaching a great importance to the promotion of the Kazakh language overseas as well.

He said that about five million ethnic Kazakhs live abroad, mostly in China, Iran, Germany, France, Turkey and other countries. In particular, in 2009 a number of Kazakh Language Centers are planned to be launched in South Korea, France, Germany, Russia and Hungary.

In India, Jamia Millia Islamia University offers courses on the Kazakh language, which is taught by native speaker from Kazakhstan, Anel Nalibayeva. The courses have been conducted since 2007. (ANI)