President Tokayev welcomes King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians at Astana airport
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians have arrived in Kazakhstan on a state visit at the invitation of Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Qazinform News Agency reports.
President Tokayev personally welcomed the high-ranking guests at the aircraft steps.
The honor guard was lined up to welcome the royal couple upon their arrival.
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde arrived in Astana abroad an aircraft operated by the Kazakh airline Air Astana.
The Belgian royal couple are accompanied by a 110-member delegation of ministers, business leaders, university rectors and journalists.
The royal couple’s visit will take place from October 11 through 14. This is their first state visit to a Central Asian nation.
The official program will open on October 12 with a welcoming ceremony at Akorda, talks in an extended format and a lunch.
The first thematic stop will be the National Center for Children's Rehabilitation in Astana, whose work spans speech therapy, Montessori education and robotics. The visit reflects a topic close to Queen Mathilde's heart, as she studied speech therapy. The day will conclude with a state dinner.
On October 13, Their Majesties will tour the National Museum of Kazakhstan, viewing halls dedicated to Kazakh history and traditions and opening an exhibition of the Belgian painter James Ensor.
They will then attend a roundtable on critical minerals at Nazarbayev University, which already cooperates extensively with Belgian universities, before joining the opening of the Kazakh-Belgian Business Council. Officials will attend the opening session, while the council itself will run throughout the afternoon.
The royal couple will then travel to the Alem.ai International Center for Artificial Intelligence, where they will tour TUMO Astana and meet students. Ghent University will donate a telescope to the center for use in student research. The center will also host a rectors' forum on AI in research and education, in line with Kazakhstan's designation of 2026 as the Year of Artificial Intelligence. The Astana leg will close with a Belgian reception in the evening.
On October 14, the delegation will fly to Almaty to visit the Institute of Nuclear Physics, which already cooperates with two Belgian companies and a Belgian university. After a cultural activity, the visit will conclude at the Almaty Museum of Arts with a dance performance by a choreographer who trained in Belgium, before the delegation departs for Belgium.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians will take part in 14 activities across Astana and Almaty during their state visit.