Samarkand Summit of the Organization of Turkic States

The First Summit of the Organization of Turkic States is being held in the ancient and eternally young city of Samarkand under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Its theme is “A New Era of Turkic Civilization: Together on the Path to Common Development and Prosperity”.

There is a reason that the summit is held in Samarkand, a beautiful pearl of ancient Turan and one of the recognized historical centers of the Turkic world. As the capital of powerful states and great rulers, this great city, located at the crossroads of the main transport routes of the Great Silk Road, has for centuries made an invaluable contribution to the mutual enrichment of various cultures, playing the role of a communication hub and a place of contact between civilizations.

Therefore, it was in Samarkand that in September this year, at the SCO Summit, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev put forward the Samarkand Solidarity Initiative for the sake of common security and prosperity, designed to launch an inter-civilizational dialogue, to unite the efforts of all countries to solve the most acute problems of our time.

Today, Uzbekistan, promoting the irreversible process of large-scale internal transformations and coming up with a unifying regional and international agenda, is ready to receive the leaders of the Turkic states to make coordinated decisions necessary for the transition to a new era of common development and prosperity of the Turkic civilization.

The summit will mark a new stage in the development of the OTS, officially established under the Nakhchivan Agreement as the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS or Turkic Council) in 2009. Uzbekistan, the second most populous Turkic-speaking state, joined this group in 2019, which gave a noticeable impetus to the development of cooperation between the Turkic countries.

In 2019-2021, at four summits of the Turkic Council, the President of Uzbekistan put forward about 35 specific initiatives to develop multifaceted economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, which significantly enriched the agenda of the organization.

The intensification of practical interaction spurred the institutional development of the association, and in November 2021, at the summit in Istanbul, a decision was made to transform the Turkic Council into the Organization of Turkic States. This decision was evidence of the desire of member states and observers to deepen cooperation in priority areas and, in this regard, the formation of a more developed institutional framework and mechanisms for promoting practical cooperation.

Thus, the leaders of the member states (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan) and OTS observers (Turkmenistan and Hungary) gathered at the Summit in Samarkand for the first time in a qualitatively new format of a full-fledged organization of the states of the Turkic world.

The theme of the Samarkand Summit “New Era of Turkic Civilization: Together on the Path to Common Development and Prosperity” seems to fully express the desire of the Turkic states for further rapprochement based on centuries-old spiritual and cultural commonality, as well as progressive ideals and practical mutually beneficial cooperation.

The global transformation taking place today stimulates the interaction of “kindred” countries, the search for pragmatic solutions to their development problems, the development of effective approaches to promoting interregional cooperation and the deepening of humanitarian ties to realize the huge civilizational potential of the Turkic states at a new stage.

The OTS countries approached the summit in Samarkand with a very rich agenda and a solid package of legal documents and other decisions that reveal the prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation.

The OTS Samarkand Declaration, signed during the summit, will fix the positions agreed by the member states on key regional and international issues and the development of multilateral cooperation in the political, economic, cultural and other spheres.

The Strategy of the Organization of Turkic States for 2022-2026 will integrate all areas and programs of multilateral cooperation for the coming years.

The main attention on the agenda was paid to issues of practical cooperation. Among them are such priority issues for Uzbekistan and other countries of the region as the creation of favorable conditions for mutual trade and investment cooperation; simplification of administrative procedures for the passage of goods along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor; development of interaction in tourism, energy, agriculture and food industry.

The leaders of the OTS countries discussed the creation of mechanisms for regional cooperation in science and education, technology and innovation, as well as strengthening cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian sphere, including on issues of history, culture, traditions and values.

The development of practical cooperation between the Turkic states, ultimately, is designed to create conditions for effective modernization and improvement of the socio-economic situation of our countries. The agenda of the summit is fully consonant with the UN Sustainable Development Goals aimed at ensuring equitable economic growth and improving the quality of life of people.

In general, thanks to the efforts of all parties that took an active part in the elaboration of the decisions being made, there is every reason to believe that the Samarkand Summit will make an important contribution to the development of multilateral cooperation of the OTS, to building a safer and more prosperous world.

D. Kurbanov,

Acting Director of the Information and Analytical Center for International Relations