The monument to the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev was unveiled in the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan on July 3.

The monument was erected the National Defense University, according to tengrinews.kz.

Incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reportedly attended the opening ceremony virtually.

In his speech, President Tokayev said Nursultan Nazarbayev is founder of nowadays Kazakhstan, who defined the strategic course of development of the sovereign state and united people for the sake of achievement of a common goal.

Erection of the monument at the National Defense University is symbolical, since the armed forces of Kazakhstan were set up by the order of the first President of Kazakhstan, Tokayev said.

Former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev reportedly recovered after contracting the coronavirus. 

Spokesman Aidos Ukibai wrote on Twitter that Nazarbayev's latest coronavirus test came back negative on July 2, just four days before his 80th birthday.

Nursultan Nazarbayev will turn 80 on July 6, a day marked in Kazakhstan as the Day of the Capital, which many consider a way to celebrate Nazarbayev's birthday on a national level. The day after his sudden resignation in March 2019, Astana was renamed Nur-Sultan after the former leader.