On October 20th the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States held its first ever business council meeting to discuss lifting barriers to trade.
Attended by representatives of major organizations and companies in the Turkic-speaking states and delegations from the governments of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, the event is discussing pressing issues and the prospects for economic cooperation.
Speaking at the business council meeting, the secretary general of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States, Halil Akinci, said that the new council faced two main objectives - the search for new ways of cooperation and the elimination of existing barriers to mutual trade and economic relations.
"I know that all entrepreneurs complain about customs procedures. When it concerns trade among our countries, customs issues grow in size," he said adding that the main problems included crossing borders and the receipt of transit documents. Akinci said that the creation of a transport and communications agency was a possible way to resolve these problems.
The summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States is attended by the presidents of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Ilham Aliyev and Roza Otunbayeva respectively. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag is representing Turkey, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had to cancel his trip following the terrorist attacks in the east of the country.
Nizami Jafarov, a member of the Milli Majlis from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party and head of the Azerbaijan-Turkey parliamentary working group, described the Almaty summit as a "very significant" event.
He said that important steps were being taken to enhance ties among Turkic-speaking states and that the creation of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States was part of that process.
"An application has been made to the UN to grant observer status to the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States. This shows that the Turkic-speaking states already create their own organizations on the international arena. In general, a stronger union of the Turkic-speaking nations is crucial in a globalizing world," Jafarov said.

AzerTAc