Kazakh expert: Safety of citizens - priority for Azerbaijani government

By Trend

The fact that Azerbaijan initiated holding of extraordinary Summit of the Turkic Council as the chairing country is positive, economic expert of Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (Parasat) Naila Almukhamedova told Trend.

The expert noted that holding of the emergency summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States through videoconferencing on April 10 showed the commitment of these countries to act cohesively and jointly in critical situations, thereby demonstrating in practice the solidarity and friendship of the Turkic nations.

"The organization of the emergency summit once again shows that the Turkic Council is gradually becoming a multilateral platform that strengthens its international authority. This thesis is also supported by the fact that the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, as an invited guest, the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, as the head of the observer state, as well as the Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took part in the summit," she said.

According to her, analyzing the speeches of the heads of states at the summit, the countries are willing to provide the necessary assistance to each other and coordinate actions for the exchange of information, the use of new methods of diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19.

"In particular, the emphasis was made on both current, and long term cooperation in the field of healthcare. Namely that’s why Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed including issues of health and healthcare system as a separate direction into the Turkic Vision - 2040 program. Therefore, in the future, we should expect the strengthening of cooperation of the Turkic Council countries in matters of social development,” she said.

As the expert noted, the long-term cooperation is also confirmed by the fact that the Turkic Council Summit’s agenda addressed issues of trade and economic cooperation.

“We can see that the coronavirus pandemic has put the countries of the world before a great choice in matters of citizens' security, politics and the economy. Many countries take tough protectivet measures, which in the future may adversely affect foreign economic cooperation. However, even in the new difficult economic conditions, our countries are interested in adapting to them, strengthening mutual cooperation after passing the peak of the spread of coronavirus. So, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed the development of a joint Action Plan,” she said.

“In this regard, the need to intensify work of the Turkic Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Turkic Investment Fund will increase. Here, of course, a proactive approach and initiatives by Azerbaijan, as the chairing state of the Turkic Council, will be important,” she said.

“Therefore, significant and complex work is ahead to find investors and coordinate the actions of the business community representatives. For Kazakhstan, as a member country of the Turkic Council, as before, issues of increasing bilateral trade, as well as strengthening transit through our joint transport corridors, will be important," she stressed.

Commenting on the actions of the Azerbaijani government to fight against the spread of coronavirus infection, Naila Almukhamedova noted that they are largely similar to the measures taken by the government of Kazakhstan.

“Azerbaijan focused on the social distancing of citizens, thereby slowing the rate of spread of COVID-19 coronavirus infection and reducing the burden on the healthcare system. That is, Azerbaijani government considers the safety of citizens and the prevention of a high percentage of deaths as the priority,” she stated.

“This, of course, affected the business activity, which in the future will lead to a slowdown in the economy. Therefore, Azerbaijan is taking measures to reduce the negative impact on the economy by paying compensations to citizens, alleviating the tax burden of entrepreneurs, and stimulating lending,” the expert stressed.

“Along with this, it’s already advisable today to develop instruments of the long-term impact, which should also correlate with the joint Action Plan within the Turkic Council’s framework," added Almukhamedova.