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Another meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS) was held in the capital of Kazakhstan. On the agenda were issues of further development of bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Following the high-level meeting, a number of joint documents were adopted. Kazinform Agency's correspondent questioned Azerbaijani expert, head of the South Caucasus Political Club, Ilgar Velizadeh, from the upcoming Astana summit.
According to the political analyst, the agenda of the UTC summit will mainly include issues of cooperation in the economic sphere, in the transport sector, the implementation of investment cooperation plans, as well as the activation of the so-called Turkic Investment Fund.
"The parties have set the goal of increasing both mutual trade turnover and multilateral trade turnover, creating a common market for goods and services within the Turkish platform," noted the expert.
Velizadeh said security was a separate issue.
"It is noteworthy that in recent months, contacts between the ministries of defense of the Turkic countries have become more frequent, joint exercises have taken place at the bilateral level, multilateral exercises between the military and representatives of the services responsible for the prevention of emergency situations," He said.
The expert does not exclude that in this respect there may be an exchange of views on the possibility of further development of the format and the creation of structures that could continuously coordinate activities related to the development of military-technical cooperation.
Ilgar Velizade believes that during the meeting, the progress of the implementation of the "Strategy of the Organization of Turkic States for the period 2022-2026" and the development of transport communications connecting the countries of the Turkic group with each other and with the outside world in light of the increase in their load can be analyzed.
"Azerbaijan is interested in promoting this agenda, as well as issues related to the coordination of Turkic countries' activities on international platforms with greater solidarity in supporting Turkic countries' positions on the international arena," the speaker said.
According to the analyst, Hungary blocked the adoption of the anti-Azerbaijan resolution in the EU Council the day before, which is an example of such solidarity. On the eve of the UTC summit, the "France-Central Asia" summit was held in Kazakhstan.
- France supports Armenia on the Karabakh issue and on the post-conflict agenda in general. This position is at odds with that of Azerbaijan. Baku has an interest in getting Central Asian countries to support its position and can point to Hungary as a country that practically contributes to this support, Velizadeh reported.
According to the expert, Azerbaijan today is carrying out extensive restoration works in Karabakh and most likely the President of the country will note during his speech the role of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in assisting and the concrete contribution of these countries to this process.
Ilgar Velizade believes that the final declaration will reflect the issues related to humanitarian cooperation. Among them, the decision to declare Aktau the "Cultural Capital of the Turkic World" in 2025 can be confirmed.
Let us recall that at this hour the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has already arrived in Astana. He will attend the annual summit of the Organisation of Turkic States, which is scheduled for 3 November.
(Kazinform/RoZ)
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