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Azerbaijan’s Gabala to host summit of Turkic Council

6 August 2013 17:07 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan’s Gabala to host summit of Turkic Council

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan will host the Third Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council) on August15-16, Turkish Council Secretariat reported on August 6.

The Third Summit of the Turkic Council, an international organization established by the Nakhchivan Agreement signed among Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey in 2009, will be held in Gabala.

Within the scope of the Summit, the Council of Foreign Ministers will convene on August 15 while the Council of Heads of States will meet on August 16. Besides, the senior officials of the Foreign Ministries will meet on August 14.

A Cooperation Protocol is expected to be undersigned among Foreign Ministries during the Summit. Secretary General of the Turkic Council will hold a press conference on August 16 to announce the Summit outcomes.

The Summit is an institutionalized continuation of the Summits Process that took place from 1992 to 2010. Each year the Summit is hosted by a different member state and has a different main theme. This year the Summit will concentrate on "transportation and connectivity".

Since its establishment, the Turkic Council has taken concrete steps to promote cooperation in the Turkic world. For the first time in history, different ministers responsible for different spheres of cooperation came together within the framework of the Turkic Council.

During the past year the Turkic Council Secretariat carried on its results-driven work and organized more than twenty meetings in various cooperation spheres. For instance, the Directive for the Establishment of the Turkic University Union and its Higher Education Area was adopted at the meeting held in Bishkek in May 2012. Thus the Turkic University Union, which will expand cooperation in the sphere of higher education, encourage student/scholar exchange, and utilize comparative advantages of the universities, was established within the Turkic Council. The Union is comprised of fifteen founding universities from four member countries.

The Terminology Committee comprised of experts from countries held its first meeting in November 2012 in Istanbul. The Committee discussed a number of issues related to developing common Turkic terminology including such projects as publishing various dictionaries as well as Turkic toponymic atlas.

Ministers and Heads of Government Agencies responsible for diaspora issues gathered twice in Baku and Ankara in the first half of 2013. Ministers approved the Joint Action Strategy drafted by the Contact Group. The First Forum of Turkic Diaspora Organizations was held in Baku on 21 June 2013 with the participation of more than 600 representatives from 50 countries. Cooperation among diasporas will contribute to defending common interests and promoting the image of member countries.

As for cooperation in the sphere of transportation which will be the main subject of the upcoming Summit, after meetings of the Working Groups and discussions between Baku and Aktau Port Administrations Transport Ministers met in Baku last July for the first time.

A Cooperation Protocol among Transport Ministers was signed during the meeting. In addition, sister ports relations were established among Baku, Aktau, and Samsun Ports after signing a Memorandum of Understanding. Parties also agreed to establish a Coordination Council consisting of Deputy Ministers as an intermediary organ which will deal with potential problems. Encouraging multi-modal transportation through Caspian Sea within the East-West Corridor will serve common interests of Member States through expansion of mutual trade and realizing their transit potential.

Additionally, Heads of Customs Administrations of Member Countries met twice in Nakhchivan and Istanbul. The Working Group on Customs Cooperation is currently working on simplification of customs procedures via implementation of such practices as "Single Window" and "Authorized Economic Operator".

The aforementioned decisions as well as the outcomes of other meetings held throughout the past year will be presented for approval to the Presidents of the Member States at the Gabala Summit.

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