Alma-Ata hosts summit of Turkic states

Alma-Ata is hosting the 1st summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic States (CCTS) with the attendance of the leaders of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. Secretary General of TURKSOY Duisen Kaseinov and Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States Ramil Gasanov were invited.

The Turkic Council is a unity of Turkic-language states, which is not aimed against interests of third states. It is open for other Turkic states to join. The council puts emphasis on encouraging cultural-humanitarian and practical-scientific cooperation.

Kazakh Minister for Economic Development and Trade Kayrat Kelimbetov held a session with economic ministers to discuss trade-economic cooperation. A business forum was organized for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey earlier. They decided to form the Business Council of Turkic States, Vestnik Kavkaza reports from Alma-Ata.

The first day of the summit held talks on topical issues of international and regional affairs, priorities for expansion of trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian cooperation. The Alma-Ata Declaration is expected to conclude the summit.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on October 19-20. They signed a joint declaration and a set of bilateral deals and a cooperation program for Foreign Ministries.