The opening ceremony of the II Congress of Archivists began with the address of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to the participants of the forum, in which it was emphasized that the Congress has successfully established itself as a promising dialogue platform for a broad exchange of ideas and experience, the search for new research approaches in the field of archival affairs. The rich agenda of the Congress that touches current issues on the place of heritage institutions in modern society and their role in achieving the UN goals in the field of sustainable development was also noted. The opening took place in the historic Independence Hall of the Kazakh-British Technical University, where the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Kazakh SSR was adopted on October 25, 1990. The honorary guests of the Congress delivered welcoming speeches: Head of the General Department of the Presidential Administration N. Toleyev, representative of the UN Department of Global Communications in Kazakhstan Vlastimil Samek, Director of the State Archives Office under the President of the Republic of Turkey Muhammet Ahmet Tokdemir.

Video messages were addressed to the participants of the Congress by UNESCO Assistant Director-General Tawfik Jelassi and Executive Director of the Research Services of the US National Archives and Records Administration Chris Naylor. Director of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan A. Mustafina opened the panel session with a report in which she outlined the main directions of development of archival industry in general, noted the importance of developing archival practices and professional competencies of archivists and introduced the participants of the Congress to the concept of development of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2035. Also, one of the key reports at the plenary session of the Congress was the speech of Rita Tjien Fooh, President of the Forum of National Archivists of the International Council on Archives (ICA) and Director of the National Archives of Suriname. As the official representative of the ICA at the Congress, Rita Tjien Fooh spoke about the role of the organization in supporting its members affected by climate change in recent years. She dwelt in detail on the strategy developed by the ICA for the Caribbean region, which suffers from climate hazards almost every year.