On November 11 this year, in Istanbul (Turkey), on the eve of the 8th summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States, the "Turkey - Turkic States Economy and Trade Conference" took place on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the independence of the Turkic-speaking countries. The event was organized to develop effective mechanisms for enhancing the economic sustainability in the countries of the Turkic Council, as well as new tools for trade development and investment stimulation.

The conference provided an open platform for representatives of the public and private sectors from participating countries to discuss and jointly identify the next steps towards sustainable and inclusive growth and deepening multilateral ties.

The opening ceremony was attended by Secretary General of the Turkic Council B.Amreyev (via video conference), President of the Committee for Foreign Economic Relations of the Republic of Turkey N.Olpak, Minister of Trade of the Republic of Turkey M.Muş, President of the Turkic Chamber of Commerce and Industry R.Hisarciklioglu, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan M.Jabbarov, Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan A.Irgaliyev, Minister of Economy and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic D.Amangeldiyev. The Uzbek delegation was headed by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade S.Umurzakov.

At the event, participants discussed the achievements of the Turkic Council countries over the past 30 years and exchanged views on how the Turkic-speaking countries will continue to develop economic cooperation in the near future. Participants included not only ministers of the governments of countries, but also representatives of official and civil society organisations as well as the public and private sectors of the participating countries.

The main trends in the global economy, prospects for increased trade between the countries of the region, measures to improve the investment climate, current problems and challenges faced by the participating countries in the transport and logistics sector, as well as new effective mechanisms for financing joint projects and initiatives were examined.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade S. Umurzakov noted that over the past 5 years, Uzbekistan's relations with the Turkic Council member states have been steadily developing. In particular, trade turnover has doubled and number of enterprises established with participation of capital from Turkic-speaking countries has risen fivefold to 2,808 units.

In this context, the need for accelerated development of multilateral trade and economic relations among the Council's member countries was stressed as an important factor in ensuring their sustainable economic growth. In this regard, the Uzbek side called on the partner countries to work together to remove existing trade barriers, simplify, harmonise and digitalise customs procedures, and develop e-commerce.

It was pointed out that Uzbekistan is interested in creating interregional value chains by deepening industrial cooperation and developing a unified programme of industrial cooperation among the entrepreneurs of the Council member countries, which envisages a significant increase in mutual investments and effective use of the potential and advantages of the economies of the Turkic-speaking countries.

The work of the conference continues. The programme includes a ministerial meeting of the Turkic Council countries to define a common vision for the Turkic states, a number of thematic panel sessions, bilateral meetings of the officials participating in the conference, as well as B2B and B2C meetings.