The Ambassador of Kazakhstan is to address the Oxford Union today ahead of the release of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

The latest film by Cohen, the man behind Ali G, has been criticised for its portrayal of Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic, as a backwards and ignorant nation - a view the ambassador, Erlan Idrissov, has denounced.

In the film, spoof reporter Borat fools Americans by posing as a naive reporter who can be outrageously offensive under the guise of being innocent - often with the aim of revealing his interviewees real prejudices.

Cohen portrays the character as coming from a very misogynistic country and this has sparked outrage from the Kazakhstan authorities.

Mr Idrissov's visit comes on Kazakhstan Republic Day and he will speak about the film and take part in a question and answer session afterwards.

He has already criticised Cohen for exploiting a lack of public knowledge about Kazakhstan and recently wrote in The Guardian: "Britain prides itself on its sense of fair play.

"By all means laugh at Borat if you will, but I suspect that once you know something of the true Kazakhstan his antics will leave a nasty aftertaste.

"Indeed, you may not laugh at all."

An Oxford Union spokesman said: "As well as discussing the new film, Mr Idrissov has been keen to emphasis the importance of Kazakhstan to the global war on terror.

"He is likely to face tough questions at the Oxford Union over his country's oft-criticised democratic and human rights record."

Kazakh-facts

Kazakhstan declared independence from the Soviet Union in December, 1991, and has been ruled by President Nursultan Nazarbayev since then.

In 1999, he won a second landslide victory, although the competition was not tough - one of his opponents based his campaign on a talent for crushing glass with his bare hands.

It is a criminal offence to insult President Nazarbayev. His private life and business affairs are state secrets.

The president's daughter Dariga runs most of the state-controlled media, including TV and radio stations, and two newspapers.

The ninth-largest country in the world by area, it has a shrinking population of just over 15 million people.

Popular drinks at local inns are fermented camel's milk (kumyran) and or fermented mare's milk (kumiss).

In 2000, there was heated discussion in parliament about legalising polygamy. The practice is common but still illegal.

Britain is the home of about 1,500 Kazakhs.