BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 26. The final declaration of the second meeting of the Ministers in charge of Agriculture of the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) was adopted, Trend reports.
The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Agriculture of Azerbaijan Majnun Mammadov and the Secretary General of OTS Kubanychbek Omuraliyev.
Mammadov said that since the Nakhchivan Summit of 2009, the Organization of Turkic States has come a long way in development. Speaking about the fact that President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev declared the strengthening of ties with the OTS countries in all spheres one of the main priorities of Azerbaijan's foreign policy, the minister noted that today OTS has turned into a powerful organization recognized on a global scale, covering a large geography with a population of about 160 million people.
In addition, OTS member countries account for 6.1 percent of the world's total agricultural land resources, including 3.9 percent of arable land, 2.2 percent of global agricultural production and two percent of exports of agricultural and processed products.
At the ministerial meeting, the possibilities of expanding cooperation between the participating countries in the field of agriculture, increasing trade turnover, and implementing projects of mutual interest were discussed. The speakers of the meeting noted that the Turkic states have a wide potential for cooperation in all areas of agriculture.
The proposals of the Azerbaijani side on the creation of a unified digital agro-information platform of the Turkic states, joint production of agricultural and food products under the OTS brand were presented to the member countries of the organization. An agreement was reached to carry out work in this direction. The proposal of the Azerbaijani side to choose the agricultural capital of the OTS countries was also positively received.
Until the next meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of the OTS, Guba was declared the capital of agriculture of the OTS countries. An agreement was also reached to hold a regular meeting of the Ministers in charge of Agriculture of the OTS in Kazakhstan.
At the end of the event, the final declaration of the 2nd meeting of the Ministers in charge of Agriculture of the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States was adopted. In the document, the main directions of further cooperation of the member states of the OTS are defined as increasing trade turnover in agriculture and food, stimulating mutual investments, transfer of modern technologies in the agricultural sector, mutual exchange of best practices, effective management of land and water resources, promotion of the agricultural insurance system and other areas.