― 16 октября 2019 г.

7th Summit of the Turkic Council in Baku

The 7th Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking Countries took place on October 15th in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
The summit hosted by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan  Ilham Aliyev gathered the founding President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of the Kyrgyz Republic  Sooronbay Jeenbekov, the President of Uzbekistan  Shevket Mirziyoyev, the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  and the Prime Minister of Hungary, member state of the Turkic Council with an observer status, Viktor Orban.

The summit which took place in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan Purli Agamuradov also gathered representatives of international organizations such as the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY), the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries (TURKPA), the Turkic Academy and the Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation.

Prior to the summit, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of participating countries came together in a special meeting during which they exchanged views on items on agenda of the summit.

While last year's summit featured subjects such as transortation ad energy, this year  the summit which takes place under a different motto every time focused  on "Supporting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises". Within the framework of this theme, the summit also gathered Chairmen of Chambers of Trade and Industry of member countries of the Turkic Council.

At the 7th Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking Countries, the Kyrgyz Republic which had hosted the previous summit held  in Cholpan Ata gave over the Term Presidency to Azerbaijan. The highlight of this year's summit was the 10th anniversary of the Nakchevan Agreement which had brought about the establishment of the Turkic Council.

In the opening speech he delivered at the summit, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Aliyev extended his gratitude to Kyrgyzstan for having successfully assumed the function of Term Presidency and congratulated Uzbekistan on the occasion of its joining the Turkic Council. Mr. Aliyev further stressed that this decision of Uzbekistan to join the Turkic Council will contribute to the further strengthening of unity and cooperation in the Turkic World.

Upon suggestion of the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Founding President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev received the title of "Lifelong Honorary President of the Turkic Council" in recognition of his strong contribution to the unity of the Turkic World Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Leaders of the the Turkic World who attended the summit signed  the declaration of the 7th Summit of the Turkic Council along with a series of decisions and  decided that the next summit shall take place in Turkey.