Shavkat Mirziyoyev: Today our countries are decisively aimed at accessing the main world markets and reviving the Great Silk Road in new historical conditions

According to the press service of the head of our state, the event, chaired by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, was also attended by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, Vice President of Turkey Cevdet Yilmaz, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, as well as OTS General Secretary Kubanychbek Omuraliev and Chairman of the OTS Council of Elders of the Binali Yildirym.

In accordance with the agenda, an exchange of views took place on the state and prospects of multifaceted cooperation within the organization, and current issues of practical interaction were discussed.

In his speech, the head of our state emphasized the symbolism of holding the current meeting in Shusha, one of the cultural capitals of the Turkic world, and also highly appreciated the enormous creative work being carried out in the Karabakh region under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev.

It was especially noted that in a short period of time, mutually beneficial and large-scale cooperation has been established within the Organization of Turkic States in more than 30 key areas.

– The current summit is taking place in the context of growing global threats and challenges, an ever-increasing crisis of mutual trust. In such a difficult situation, time itself requires the development of common approaches and bringing relations between our countries to a qualitatively new level, the President of Uzbekistan emphasized.

In order to further develop multilateral and long-term cooperation between the Turkic states, the leader of Uzbekistan drew attention to a number of priority issues.

The steady growth in trade turnover between the countries of the organization, which increased by 27 percent last year, was noted with satisfaction. The same high rates are observed this year.

– Today our countries are decisively aimed at accessing the main world markets and reviving the Great Silk Road in new historical conditions, noted President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

It was emphasized that as a result of strengthening the legal framework for cooperation and the introduction of modern digital systems, the volume of cargo transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor is steadily growing.

The introduction of attractive tariffs for business will contribute to increasing the competitiveness of this corridor. In addition, the importance of establishing a Single Window system and ensuring the continuous operation of customs and border checkpoints was noted.

The President of Uzbekistan pointed out the expediency of broadly involving the Alliance of Logistics Centers and Freight Carriers of Turkic States, recently created in Tashkent, in shaping the agenda and implementing the priority tasks of the UTC in the field of transport.

The Uzbek side also put forward an initiative to create a Council of Railway Administrations within the organization with its directorate located in Tashkent.

It was proposed to instruct the ministers of trade and transport, before the next summit this fall, to jointly develop a set of measures to make the most effective use of the opportunities of international routes, complete digitalization of road transportation and the creation of “green” corridors.

The leader of our country paid special attention to the issues of jointly combating climate change.

To systematically solve existing problems in this area, it was proposed to create a Turkic Environmental Council with headquarters in Nukus, a large city in the Aral Sea region, the region most affected by the environmental disaster.

The leader of our country especially noted that today the voice of the Turkic world is sounding louder in the field of international climate cooperation.

In this context, it was emphasized that the upcoming Climate Summit (COP-29) of the United Nations, which will be held in November this year in Baku, will become a significant historical event for all OTS countries.

Speaking about the importance of developing alternative energy sources, the head of our state said that Uzbekistan intends to increase the share of renewable energy in the country’s energy balance to 40% by 2030.

In particular, with the participation of foreign partners, new solar and wind power plants with a capacity of about 2 gigawatts are launched annually.

– We are also starting work together with Kazakhstan on the construction of hydroelectric power stations in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, noted President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

In order to expand cooperation in this area, it was proposed to adopt the Concept “Turkic movement to green energy”.

The head of our state noted the enormous contribution of the peoples of the Turkic world to civilizational progress.

– Our outstanding thinkers and ulema, well known to the world community, laid the foundation for two great eras of the Renaissance. This testifies to the high human capital our peoples have possessed since ancient times,” President Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized.

In this context, the need to strengthen cooperation in creating a modern “knowledge economy”, in the areas of digital technologies for the development of the “creative economy”, blockchain and cloud technologies, quantum computing, robotics, and personnel training for the “fourth industry” is pointed out.

For these purposes, an initiative has been put forward to create a Research Center for the Development of Human Capital of the Organization of Turkic States in Uzbekistan.

In addition, the President of Uzbekistan proposed holding the Turkic Youth Olympiad in Exact Sciences and the World Congress of Turkologists in our country next year under the auspices of the organization.

The head of our state paid special attention to the emerging difficult situation in the Gaza Strip, where about 40 thousand residents, including women and children, died as a result of the bloody war. He called on the parties to immediately cease violent activities and begin the peace process without delay.

It was emphasized that the main condition for ensuring strategic stability and peace in the Middle East is the creation of an independent State of Palestine.

Referring to the situation in Afghanistan, where millions of representatives of the Turkic peoples live, the leader of our country especially noted the importance of the organization’s member states developing common and unified approaches to this issue.

– For its part, Uzbekistan will continue to provide the necessary assistance to the Afghan people. We are convinced that the return of Afghanistan’s financial assets frozen abroad will serve to mitigate the social situation in this country,” President Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized.

Following the summit, the Karabakh Declaration was adopted, as well as a number of agreements on priority areas of interaction.