Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke at the tenth summit of the Organization of Turkic States, which is taking place in Astana this year.
Speaking about cooperation, he noted that Azerbaijan has invested more than $20 billion in the economy of the Turkic countries, Türkiye accounts for the bulk of these countries. The Head of state added that this year Azerbaijan has increased trade turnover with the OTS member countries by 40%.
"In the context of the development of our relations, the spheres of transport and logistics have a special place. Azerbaijan has established itself as a reliable transit country between the countries of Central Asia and the Turkish and European markets",
Ilham Aliyev said.
Aliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan made a great contribution to the work of the East-West transport corridor. At the same time, the President stated the importance of increasing cooperation in security, defense and industry within the framework of the OTS.
Next, the Head of State spoke about the restoration of the liberated territories of Azerbaijan. He recalled that after the end of the 44-day war in 2020, Baku began large-scale land restoration.
"$7 billion of Azerbaijan's budget funds have already been spent for these purposes. Next year, it is planned to allocate at least $2.4 billion",
Ilham Aliyev said
In addition to this, Aliyev said that refugees were already returning to the Azerbaijani cities of Lachin and Fuzuli. He added that over 140 thousand civilians would return to the Karabakh economic region and East Zangezur by the end of 2026.
