ISTANBUL
The meeting of top diplomats of member states of the Organization of Turkic States (OTC) began in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on Thursday ahead of a summit of the Turkic nations’ heads of state.
“Foreign Ministers will carry out final work on agenda items and documents to be signed by Heads of State tomorrow,” the group announced on Twitter.
Top diplomats set to attend include Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov, Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi, Kyrgyzstan Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev, and Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and Turkmen Deputy Foreign Minister Berdi Metiyev are also attending the meeting as representatives of the group’s observer states.
In the session’s opening statement, Norov underlined that the meeting and summit are taking place “in a period of geopolitical tension.”
“In such a complex global environment, the OTC is stepping into a new and more responsible stage in its development. For this reason, it is very important for us to put forward our unity, togetherness, and joint efforts to achieve our strategic goals and tasks within the framework of our mutual cooperation,” he said.
Norov also stressed that the emerging regional environment is creating “very favorable opportunities” for further cooperation and development.
“The new geoeconomic situation emerging in Eurasia offers us very favorable opportunities to transform our region, which connects the strategic corridors of Eurasia, into a powerful transport-logistics link in the global production and supply chain,” he said.
The leaders of the Turkic nations – including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – are set to meet in Samarkand on Friday, hosted by the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan.
The leaders’ summit will be held under the theme of “New era for Turkic civilization: Towards common development and prosperity,” the group said on Wednesday.
It added that decisions will be taken on several important issues as well as “finalizing various agreements and official documents of the organization’s projects in the fields of economy, trade, transport, and customs.”
