On July 2, Kazakh diplomats celebrate their professional holiday – the Diplomatic Service Day. In a quaint way, the professional holiday of Kazakh diplomats coincides with the World Sports Journalists Day, which has been celebrated around the globe since 1994. This makes us recall the ancient postulate that ‘Sport is the Ambassador of Peace’.
One of the modern types of diplomacy is the so-called “Jersey Diplomacy” when heads of high-ranking foreign delegations exchange jerseys or T-shirts of famous local sports clubs.
In Kazakhstan, this idea was supported by the leader of the Sports Press Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan and acting diplomat, Ilyas Omarov.
Presidents of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Finland Sauli Niinistö, President of the 72nd UN General Assembly Miroslav Lajčák, Member of the European Parliament Ryszard Czarnecki, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Argentina Héctor Timerman, Canada John Baird, Hungary Péter Szijjártó, Russia Sergey Lavrov, Czech Republic Lubomír Zaorálek, and his compatriot Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek, were among those accepted as honorary members of the Barys hockey club or the Astana football club.
FIFA President Giovanni Infantino received the jerseys of the major football clubs Kairat and Astana at the last AIPS Congress in Budapest.
