Uzbekistan to hold 1st Summit of Organization of Turkic States in 2022

Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has attended the 8th summit of the Cooperation Council of Organization of Turkic Speaking States. At the initiative of President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the event was held on Democracy and Liberties Island southeast of Istanbul. According to the press service of the president of Uzbekistan, the summit was also attended by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov, and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban. The parties discussed measures to strengthen multifaceted relations in supporting trade and investment, as well as to ensure the transition to a green economy. The discussion also touched upon digital technologies, the transport sector, communication, and other spheres.

Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said that the country supports the historic decision to change the name of the Turkic Council to the Organization of Turkic States and grant neighboring Turkmenistan an observer State status, stressing that these steps would raise the organization’s activities to a new level. The rapid processes occurring in the globe nowadays, challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, food security issues, climate change, and ecological threats pose urgent tasks for organization member states.

Besides, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev voiced initiatives to achieve greater effectiveness of the existing trade potential of multifaceted cooperation between the countries.

In recent years, the republic’s total trade turnover saw a two-fold increase with organization member states. In 2020 the total volume of imports of the countries amounted to $420bn, while the total volume of mutual supplies between the member states amounted to $21bn.

In a bid to extensively study the opportunities in this area as well as to increase the volume of exports and imports, it’s proposed to create a center for researching trade cooperation between the Turkic states.

Addressing the Green technologies and smart cities in the digital age theme, the President took the initiative to create a permanent platform of experts and IT specialists to exchange experience and transfer innovations to create smart cities. As the first step in this direction, it is brought forward to organize a conference for experts next year.

To prevent the negative impact and spread of environmental disasters, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came up with an initiative to create, jointly with the UN, a structure for the protection of the environment of the Turkic countries, and place its headquarters in one of the Aral Sea regions.

The President also discussed tourism development, proposing to develop a “Roadmap” to implement tourism projects.

Expressing gratitude for the decision taken during the summit to establish an international award named after Alisher Navoi, President noted the importance of studying and translating rare works stored in the funds of the participating countries, creating a single electronic database as Uzbekistan preserves some 200 thousand unique manuscript works. 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.

Besides, Uzbekistan President proposed to declare 2022 in the Turkic world as the “Year of Support for Youth Initiatives”. Within its framework, it is proposed to develop and implement a joint program of specific events, to include this issue on the agenda of the next summit as the main topic.

At the end of the summit, it was announced that the first summit of the Organization of Turkic States is set to be held in Uzbekistan next year. The heads of state signed more than 10 documents – the final declaration of the summit, the program document “Turkish World Vision – 2040” and other decisions on the agenda.