Nazarbayev meets Turkiс leaders

    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 president’s official website.
    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 Turkic-speaking countries.
    During his speech at the event, Nazarbayev outlined four priorities, which he said would help the Turkic world develop.
    First, he stressed the importance of economic development.
    “The total GDP of the six independent states [meaning four member states and two observer states to the organization - Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan] exceeds $1.2 trillion. Meanwhile, the share of the five countries makes up only 6% of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade. This is why we need to strengthen our shared economic potential,” Nazarbayev said.
    In this respect, Nazarbayev turned his colleagues’ attention to new opportunities provided by the Eurasian Economic Union. He noted that Kazakhstan's entry into the Union has opened up a market of 170 million people to producers from the Turkic space.
    Nazarbayev named transport as another priority area, saying 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, the 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 our country is expected to be completed next year. We also plan to increase the capacity of the Aktau Sea Port [on the Caspian Sea]. In this respect, it is important to develop cooperation between the ports in Aktau, Baku [Azerbaijan] and Samsun [Turkey]," he said.
    Nazarbayev then turned his attention to tourism, asserting that attracting foreign tourists would benefit the socio-economic development of the Turkic world.
    “There are enough natural sights and historically significant places of great importance to the world community. We should unite and modernize the tourism infrastructure together,” he stressed.
    The president suggested using the “Silk Road” brand name to develop a shared tourist product of a distinctively Turkic nature.
    He also invited his colleges to consider the possibility of creating a new TV channel to focus on presenting Turkic culture to the international community. The president even proposed dedicating the next summit of the Council to the common information and media market and its competitive advantages.
    The last point in Nazarbayev’s address was a call to strengthen traditional cultural and humanitarian relations.
    He noted the importance of structures such as TURKSOI, the Turkic Academy, and the Turkic Cultural Heritage Fund.
    These organizations are specifically designed to preserve the historical heritage of the Turkic world, promote its culture and enhance mutual exchanges between the Turkic speaking countries.
    The Turkic academy in particular has potential to lead the way towards a greater Turkic integration, he said. Nazarbayev added that more young professionals should be trained to and hired to work at these organizations.
    Nazarbayev also asserted the Turkic Council had achieved concrete results as an international organization, and needed to continue working for the benefit of all the member countries, according to Tengrinews.kz.