President, Turkic Council chief eye further co-op among Turkic states [UPDATE]

By Azernews

By Vafa Ismayilova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Secretary-General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States (Turkic Council) Baghdad Amreyev have eyed further strengthening of cooperating among Turkic Council members, Azertag reported on November 5.

Pointing to the upcoming Turkic Council summit, the sides noted that the event would contribute to the strengthening of cooperation between the member countries, and hailed the excellent organization of this summit in 2019 under Azerbaijan's chairmanship.

Amreyev congratulated President Aliyev on Victory Day and emphasized that not only the Azerbaijani people but the entire Turkic world was honored by this victory.

The Azerbaijani leader thanked him for the congratulation. He hailed the support of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States and personally Secretary-General Baghdad Amreyev for Azerbaijan's just cause during the Patriotic War.

Established in 2009, the Turkic Council is an intergovernmental organization of Turkic-speaking countries.  The founding member states of the organization are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. During the seventh summit of the Turkic Council held in Baku in October 2019, Uzbekistan joined the organization as a full member, while during the sixth summit held in Cholpon-Ata (Kyrgyzstan) in September 2018, Hungary received observer status at the organization.

Azerbaijan invested $18.3 billion in the economy of Turkic Council member states between 1995 and 2020. Meanwhile, Turkic Council member states invested $13 billion in the Azerbaijani economy during the reported period. Azerbaijan's trade turnover with member states of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States increased by 3.5 times in 2020 and reached $4.4 billion. The share of the council member states in foreign trade of Azerbaijan made up 17.9 percent.