President of Uzbekistan forwards important initiatives to enhance the multifaceted cooperation of the Turkic Speaking States

On November 12, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev attended the Eighth Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States.

At the initiative of the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the event took place on the Democracy and Freedom Island to the southeast of Istanbul and is one of the most significant places in Turkey from a historical point of view.

The meeting of the Council was also attended by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov, as well as President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban.

In accordance with the agenda, issues of enhancing multifaceted cooperation in trade, investment, green economy, digital technologies, transport and communications, as well as education and culture were considered.

The President of Uzbekistan declared the country’s full support for the historic decisions on renaming the Turkic Council into the Organization of Turkic States and granting Turkmenistan the status of an observer state. It was stressed that these steps will raise the organization’s activities to a qualitatively new level, significantly increase its role and authority in the international arena.

It was noted that the rapid processes taking place in the world today, various challenges and threats, trials caused by the pandemic, problems of food security, ecology and climate change pose new urgent tasks to the member states of the organization.

In this regard, the Leader of Uzbekistan announced initiatives aimed at more fully utilizing the huge potential of cooperation between the two countries and strengthening the organization.

The main priority is the creation of favorable and attractive conditions for the expansion of trade relations between the countries.

The twofold increase in the total trade turnover of Uzbekistan with fraternal countries in recent years was emphasized. At the same time, these indicators do not correspond to the existing potential. The analysis shows that in 2020 the total volume of imports of the two countries amounted to $420 billion, while the total volume of mutual supplies between the member states amounted to $21 billion.

Therefore, the most urgent task is to replace the products of third countries with goods that can be produced in the member states of the organization.

To comprehensively study the available opportunities in this area, it was proposed to create a Center for research of trade cooperation of the Turkic states, which will develop proposals to eliminate trade barriers, the widespread introduction of e-commerce and increase the volume of exports and imports.

The President of Uzbekistan called the development of transport and transit an important area of cooperation, which will contribute to the further expansion of trade-economic cooperation between the Organization's countries.

It was noted that the current situation requires further development of existing and creation of new transcontinental transport corridors from China to Europe passing through the territory of our countries.

To establish systematic interaction in this direction, it was proposed to develop a “Connectivity program of the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States in the transport sector”.

The President of Uzbekistan also called for strengthening industrial cooperation. To this end, a proposal was made to create Engineering and Technology Centers based on the specialized organizations of the member states to develop joint projects in this direction. The readiness to hold the Turkic States Industry Week in Uzbekistan next year was announced.

Considering that the theme of the current summit is “Green technologies and smart cities in the digital age”, the President of Uzbekistan has taken the initiative to create a permanent platform of experts and IT specialists for the exchange of experience and transfer of innovations for the creation of smart cities. As the first step in this direction, it was proposed to hold an expert conference in 2022.

The topic of climate change, mitigation of its impact on the Organization’s countries, as well as the problem of drying up of the Aral Sea were touched upon in the speech of the Leader of Uzbekistan. To reduce the negative consequences of environmental disasters and prevent their spread, Shavkat Mirziyoyev took the initiative to create a structure for the protection of the environment of the Turkic countries in cooperation with the United Nations, and to place its headquarters in one of the areas of the Aral Sea region most affected by this environmental disaster.

The President of Uzbekistan paid special attention to the tourism development, proposing to develop a roadmap that will allow the implementation of the projects “Tourism in the Turkic world” and “Tabarruk tourism”, will cover the issues of holding exhibitions of handicrafts and ethnic-sports competitions, will contribute to the preservation and restoration of cultural heritage sites, as well as promote the development of cooperation in other areas.

The President of Uzbekistan, expressing gratitude for the decision taken during today's summit on the establishment of the Alisher Navoi International Prize, noted the importance of studying and translating rare works stored in the funds of the participating countries, creating a single electronic database.

Only in Uzbekistan, there is a fund of manuscripts, which includes about 200 thousand unique handwritten works related to our common history and culture. In this regard, it was proposed to create a research center for the study of the historical, scientific and cultural heritage of the Turkic-speaking states.

It was emphasized that young people make up the majority of the population of the organization’s member countries, the role of the younger generation in the lives and destinies of our peoples, the development of relations between the two countries is increasingly enhancing.

The Leader of Uzbekistan noted that one of the main tasks is comprehensive support of young people, encouragement of their creative initiatives and projects, protection from ideas alien to our national values.

In this regard, the Head of the state proposed to declare 2022 in the Turkic world the “Year of Supporting Youth Initiatives”. Within its framework, it is proposed to develop and implement a joint program of specific measures, to include this issue in the agenda of the next summit as the main topic.

During his speech, the President of Uzbekistan touched upon the current difficult situation in Afghanistan, which is at the center of attention.

“It is extremely important to prevent the emergence of a humanitarian crisis in this country, its international isolation and turning into a haven for terrorists.

Our approaches in the dialogue with the new government of Afghanistan should be coordinated and solidary”, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

Following the summit, a decision was taken to transfer the chairmanship of the organization to the Republic of Azerbaijan and hold the first summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Uzbekistan next year.

The heads of state adopted more than 10 documents – the Final Declaration of the Summit, as well as the “Vision of the Turkic World – 2040” and other important documents included in the agenda.