Nazarbayev meets with Turkic leaders

Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev has attended the Fourth Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States in the Turkish city of Bodrum, Tengrinews reports citing the official website of the president.

The Turkic Council (short for the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States) is an intergovernmental organization composed of four countries: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey. The primary goal of the organization is to promote political and economic cooperation among the Turkic-speaking countries, which share a common history and cultural ties.

During his speech Nazarbayev outlined four priorities, which he believes would help the Turkic world develop. First of all, he stressed the importance of economic development. “The total GDP of the six independent states [he meant four member states and two observer states of the organization - Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan] exceeds $1 trillion 200 billion. In the meanwhile, the share of the five countries makes only 6% in Kazakhstan’s foreign trade. This is why we need to strengthen our shared economic potential,” Nazarbayev said.

In this respect Nazarbayev turned the attention of his colleges to the new opportunities provided by the Eurasian Economic Union. He said that Kazakhstan's joining the Union opens up a market of 170 million people to producers from the Turkic space.

Transport was another priority area outlined by Nazarbayev who said that the Turkic world needs to put newly created transportation projects to efficient use. "Kazakhstan's section of the Western Europe-Western China highway is close to completion. By the end of this year construction of the railway [from Kazakhstan] to Turkmenistan and Iran will be completed, which will provide access to the Persian Gulf. The railway that starts in China and stretches to the Caspian Sea across the territory of our country is expected to be completed next year. We are also planning to increase the capacity of the Aktau sea port [at the Caspian Sea]. In this respect, it is important to develop cooperation between the ports in Aktau, Baku [Azerbaijan] and Samsun [Turkey]," the Kazakhstan president said.

The next point Nazarbayev  turned his attention to was tourism. The president asserted that attracting foreign tourists will benefit the socio-economic development of the Turkic world. “There are enough natural sights and historically significant places, which are of great importance to the world community. We should unite and modernize the tourism infrastructure together,” he said.

The president suggested using the “Silk Road” brand name to develop a shared tourist product of a distinctively Turkic nature.

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Turkic cooperation Kazakh Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan news trade transport Turkey Azerbaijan