Meeting of research centers of Organization of Turkic States takes place

On 14-15 October Tashkent hosted the first Meeting of official foreign policy research centers of Turkic states which brings together over 60 representatives of leading think tanks from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Hungary, Turkic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Secretariat of the Turkic States.

The agenda included discussion of the prospects of cooperation of Turkic countries in trade and economic sphere, development of transport and communication interconnection, intensification of partnership in introduction of innovative technologies and digital solutions in energy sector, industry, agriculture, trade.

In his speech, Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Badriddin Abidov noted the trend of strengthening trade and investment cooperation within the Organization. So, over the past three years, trade turnover between the countries of the OTS has increased by almost 1.5 times and by the end of 2021 reached $9.4 billion. As of September 1 this year, the number of enterprises operating in Uzbekistan with the participation of member states' capital has doubled and exceeded 4,000 units.

A number of constructive proposals have been made to actively stimulate mutual trade, create a research center for trade cooperation among Turkic countries, develop production potential based on competitive advantages and complementarity of the economies of the Organization.