Azerbaijan, Gabala, August 16 /Trend A.Badalova
The cooperation between the Turkic Speaking States has deepened even further over the past year, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said, during his speech at the opening of the Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States held in Azerbaijani city of Gabala on Aug. 16.
The Azerbaijani President expressed his gratitude to the President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev for successful chairmanship in the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States last year.
According to President Aliyev, Kyrgyzstan's successful chairmanship gave a strong impetus to the activity of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States.
"I am confident that our cooperation in the coming years will deepen, expand, and rise to a new level," the Azerbaijani president said.
The President of Azerbaijan welcomed all the guests of the summit in the old Azerbaijani city of Gabala. The head of state recalled that the previous summit was held in another ancient Azerbaijani city - Nakhchivan.
"Holding such meetings on a high level in various cities are of introductory character, at the same time the unity between our countries and peoples is even more strengthening. The Turkic world is becoming more powerful. It covers a large geographic area, and of course, our peoples must better know each other, and our cooperation must be intensified," President Aliyev said.
"With a great sense of pride I can say at the previous high-level meetings in Azerbaijan, namely in Nakhchivan, a new format for cooperation between the Turkic-speaking States was created. And using this format within the framework of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking Sountries is a new stage in our cooperation," the president underscored.
President Aliyev noted that this is the third high-level meeting, and added with confidence that in the future such meetings will be held on a regular basis.
"Our peoples are united by common history and culture. For centuries our peoples were closely bounded with each other. We've cooperated, lived together, were supportive of each other. Today, as independent states, we are united in all matters, we should be together," the president said.
President Aliyev went on to note that the main task of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States is to further strengthen the unity between the countries and peoples.
"We are implementing a very successful activity in the bilateral format, an excellent cooperation in economic sphere is carried out, our countries constantly support each other on international arena, and this is natural because brotherly countries should be close to each other," the president said. "In many cases in the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other international organizations we speak with one voice, and that of course makes us stronger."
Azerbaijani President said that today the work will be carried out in different ways, and a number of important issues will be discussed.
"Of course, the issue of regional security is very important for successful development of our nations, and our countries greatly contribute to regional security," President Aliyev underscored.