On December 26, 1991, the United States was the first nation to recognize the independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan and to establish diplomatic relations with this new democracy. As a result, both the American Embassy in Kazakhstan and the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Washington, D.C. were opened in 1992. On July 25, 2007, His Excellency Erlan A. Idrissov, the current ambassador to the United States, presented Kazakhstan’s credentials to President George W. Bush.