Good afternoon, dear representatives of the media!

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to each of you for your attention to the summit of the Organization of Turkic States and related events.

Thanks to your publications, the positive image of our Organization has strengthened and the interest of the world community has increased.

In recent days, Uzbekistan has been a platform for various events of the Organization of Turkic States, warmly welcomed the guests, official delegations to participate in ministerial and expert meetings, international forums and conferences.

The culminating event was today’s summit, held under the chairmanship of the President of Uzbekistan, distinguished Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev, which was attended by leaders of 6 member countries and observers, Secretary-General of OTS and heads of affiliated entities to the Organization.

Welcoming the guests of the summit, the President of Uzbekistan expressed gratitude to his colleagues for supporting the initiative to declare the ancient and eternally young city of Samarkand – the capital of Turkic civilization.

Indeed, this decision was taken for a reason, the city of Samarkand is the pride of all Turkic peoples.

Being the capital of the great Turkic dynasties, he made a huge contribution to the development of statehood, science and art of our peoples.

The meeting of leaders of the Organization of Turkic States, held under the slogan «New Era of Turkic Civilization: Towards Common Development and Prosperity», opened new horizons and prospects of practical cooperation between the Turkic countries.

As our President noted, one of the features of this summit is that for the first time in our centuries-old history the Turkic family has come together at the same table as part of the renewed unification.

The landmark event of the summit was the awarding of the Supreme Order of the Turkic Peace to the Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty of Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan, the distinguished Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and the President of Turkiye, the esteemed Recep Erdogan.

In presenting these awards, the Leader of Uzbekistan highlighted that they are a high assessment of the efforts of these two fraternal States to strengthen the unity of our countries and peoples.

At the same time, by unanimous decision of the parties, the Alisher Navoi International Prize established last year on the initiative of the Uzbek side for contribution to the unity of the Turkic world was (posthumously) awarded to the great Kyrgyz writer, statesman and public figure Chingiz Aitmatov – a unique personality who made an invaluable contribution to the spread of Turkic history and culture all over the world.

Dear participants of the press conference,

During the summit, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan noted that in the light of the events around us, today’s summit has a special, historical significance.

The Organization of Turkic States is entering a new, even more responsible stage of its development, it has to solve many priority tasks of cooperation».

In this context, the leader of our country has put forward a number of concrete proposals and practical initiatives on topical issues of multifaceted cooperation as part of the OTS.

First of all, the importance of strengthening the basis of trade and economic relations by increasing mutual trade turnover, development of «green» economy, information technologies and transport communications was emphasized.

In order to implement these ideas, it was proposed to create new economic opportunities under the auspices of the Organization’s space, to hold an International Turkic Economic Forum, and to develop a Strategy for cooperation in the transport sector.

The President of Uzbekistan also emphasized the importance of further strengthening cooperation in the agricultural field in order to ensure food security by concluding an agreement on the formation of effective mechanisms to supply food products within the Organization’s space.

Focusing on the youth cooperation, it was proposed to hold next year the International Congress of Turkic youth on science and innovation.

Moreover, our President urged his colleagues to carry out institutional reforms of the Organization, in particular he proposed the creation of committees within the OTG in security, trade, investment, transportation, agriculture, energy, tourism, science and technology, health and other spheres.

Dear friends,

According to the agenda of the Summit, leaders of our countries discussed the current state and prospects of further development of cooperation within the Organization, exchanged views on the regional and international situation in a friendly and constructive atmosphere. 

The heads of state stressed that the rapidity of events taking place in the world and changes in international relations dictate the need for constant adaptation of the OTG to modern realities. The participants emphasized the need for a systematic dialogue on strategic issues in order to consolidate efforts to overcome the growing challenges and threats of our time.

In this context, the leaders welcomed the Samarkand Solidarity Initiative for Common Security and Prosperity put forward by the President of Uzbekistan, aimed at ensuring peace and stability, broad international cooperation and the advancement of sustainable human development.

The agreed positions of the member-states on pressing issues on the international agenda were set forth in the Samarkand Declaration, the principal outcome document of the Summit. It also reflected common approaches of the parties to addressing regional and global issues, and indicated priorities in the development of the Organization. 

The negotiations resulted in the adoption of more than ten multilateral documents, which will undoubtedly contribute to filling cooperation in promising areas of the Organization’s work with qualitatively new practical content.

I would like to emphasize the adoption of the OTS Strategy for 2022-2026 in the framework of the implementation of the concept “Turkic World Vision 2040”, the practical implementation of which will allow to start the launch of interaction in various directions between the countries of the Organization.

In order to accelerate economic recovery in the OTS region in the post-pandemic period and under the conditions of increasing turbulence in the world economy, the Strategy on Trade Facilitation among the OTS member-states was approved and an agreement on the formation of a system of simplified customs corridors was signed.

We can say without a doubt that the decision to establish a Turkic investment fund in a short period of time was a special achievement.

This showed a common strong political and legal will to bring the cooperation between the countries of the Organization to a new level on a mutually beneficial project and to develop cooperation in real sectors.

In addition, the International Multimodal Freight Agreement and the Transport Connectivity Program were signed within the framework of the Summit. This opens up new opportunities for further deepening of transport and logistics cooperation.

The Protocol on Amendments to the Nakhichivan Agreement and the Rules of Procedure of the OTG in a new edition were signed in order to improve the activities and strengthen the institutional foundations of the Organization. 

They confirm that the key to the success of our Organization will remain an unwavering commitment to the basic values of our cooperation, such as equality, mutual respect, and consensus-based decision-making.

Dear friends!

The Samarkand Summit helped us chart new ways of strengthening multilateral cooperation to ensure stability, security and sustainable development. 

Additionally, the Summit concluded the successful presidency of the Republic of Turkiye, which was highly commended by the leaders of our countries. 

The presidency has passed to the Republic of Uzbekistan, which will be aimed at productivity and practical results. 

The member-states unanimously supported the proposal of the President of Uzbekistan to declare next year the Year of Rise of Turkic Civilization.

I would like to assure that Uzbekistan will continue making efforts in order for our Organization to continue serving as an effective international platform for constructive discussion of topical issues of international agenda and strengthening cultural ties and traditions between brotherly peoples in the Turkic world.

At the suggestion of the Kazakhstani side, the leaders decided to hold the next summit of the Organization in 2023 in Kazakhstan. 

At the end of my speech I would like to note that at the end of the summit the term of office of distinguished Baghdad Kultayevich as Secretary General will expire. 

The leaders of the participating countries have expressed their appreciation for his energetic and fruitful work in strengthening cooperation within the OTS. On my behalf, I would like to wish him great success and prosperity in his new endeavors. 

The candidacy of Omuraliev Kubanychbek Kasymovich from the Republic of Kyrgyzstan was approved as Secretary General.