In 2006, Gemini Films, the Central Asian distributor of 20th Century Fox, complied with a Kazakh government request to not release the film. That year, Kazakh ambassador to the United Kingdom Erlan Idrissov, after viewing the film, called parts of the film funny and wrote that the film had "placed Kazakhstan on the map". By 2012, Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov attributed a great rise in tourism to his country—with visas issued rising ten times—to the film, saying "I am grateful to 'Borat' for helping attract tourists to Kazakhstan."