The Deputy Director General of our Institute, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Zhenis Zh., successfully completed a scientific mission to Uzbekistan, which took place from April 4th to 7th. During the visit, he participated in the international conference “The Heritage of Amir Timur and the Timurid Dynasty,” held in Tashkent, Samarkand, and Shakhrisabz. As a result of the conference, important agreements were reached, and prospects for international cooperation in the field of historical science were outlined. The Uzbek side initiated the creation of an international “Institute for the Study of the History of Central Asian Countries” and an international journal “Turan Studies,” which is expected to become an authoritative platform for researchers from across the Turkic world. It is planned that a summer camp for young scientists of the institute under the age of 35 will be organized in the summer of 2025, with the invitation of five representatives from our scientific institution. The Uzbek side expressed its readiness to provide comprehensive support to historical projects dedicated to the era of Amir Timur.

A significant event was the establishment of cooperation with a leading European scientific center. During the conference, a meeting was held with Mr. Michele Verdiani, the Director of the “Institute of Oriental Studies and Medieval Studies” at the University of Naples (Italy). Professor Verdiani announced the readiness to publish articles by the staff of our Institute in the prestigious journals “Oriente Modern,” “Anale de la üniversite di Neapole orientale,” and “Eurasian Studies,” which are indexed in Scopus. Furthermore, a proposal was made to consider the possibility of establishing a “Marco Polo Research Center” at our Institute. Mr. Verdiani noted the significant interest in Europe and Central Asia in the works of the Kazakh scientist Akhmet Toktabay, to whom his book was presented as a gift. A preliminary agreement was also reached on signing a memorandum of cooperation and the possible representation of our Institute’s interests in Western Europe by Mr. Verdiani.

As part of strengthening interlibrary exchange, valuable scientific publications were transferred to the Institute’s library, including the recently published source study by Zh. Oshan, the collection “Argynbayev Readings,” ethnographic works “Tarikhe Oldzhaitu,” and “Kazakhs of the Amu Darya.”

Overall, the scientific mission was deemed highly productive. The Director of the Institute of History of Uzbekistan, Mr. Azamat Ziya, conveyed greetings to the leadership and staff of our Institute and assured them of the openness of Uzbekistan’s archives to Kazakhstani researchers and the readiness to provide the necessary support in their scientific activities.

These agreements open up new prospects for the development of international cooperation between our Institute and leading scientific centers in Central Asia and Europe, contributing to the integration of Kazakhstani historical science into the global research space.