Leaders of a bloc of Turkic-speaking countries are due to gather in Türkiye this week, with cooperation on agriculture, space, trade and transportation expected to be high on the agenda.
The Organization of Turkic States (OTS) summit will be hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday in Ankara, which has been named the Turkic World's Tourism Capital for 2026.
The gathering follows the NATO leaders' summit held in the capital in July.
OTS leaders are expected to review the current state of cooperation and future prospects, as well as regional and international developments of shared interest, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
They will assess progress in the organization's priority areas: political cooperation, trade and investment, transportation and connectivity, energy, digital transformation, cultural and humanitarian cooperation and institutional development.
The organization has set a long-term plan called Turkic World 2040 Vision, and the summit is expected to stress concrete steps toward it.
Türkiye will take over the group's rotating chairmanship from Azerbaijan. Leaders are expected to adopt the Ankara Declaration along with decisions and documents meant to deepen cooperation and strengthen the organization's institutions.
Turkish business groups are expected to hold events on the sidelines, with the Middle Corridor, border crossings, customs procedures and logistics costs set to feature in the talks. Turkmenistan's president, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, is scheduled to meet Turkish business representatives on Oct. 30.
The Middle Corridor, a trade route linking Asia and Europe through Central Asia and the South Caucasus, offers important opportunities for the economic integration of the Turkic world, the report said.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is among the major transportation projects between Türkiye and Azerbaijan.
A digital economy partnership agreement among members aims to remove barriers to e-commerce, digital services and cross-border data-based activity. Türkiye ratified it in June, becoming the third country to complete domestic approval after Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
Members are also working on a Turkic States Digital Agriculture Data Platform for data exchange and smart farming solutions. At the 77th International Astronautical Congress in Antalya, members recently signed a framework agreement continuing a joint CubeSat project coordinated by the organization.
Türkiye has been a net exporter to the organization's members in recent years. Shipments to the four full members, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, have grown from $6.2 billion in 2021 to $9.6 billion last year. Imports in the same period rose from $4.2 billion to $7.3 billion
Total trade last year came to nearly $17 billion. Kazakhstan was Türkiye's top export market at $3.2 billion, followed by Azerbaijan at $3 billion, Uzbekistan at $2.1 billion and Kyrgyzstan at $1.3 billion.
In the first eight months of this year, Türkiye exported $6.1 billion worth of goods and imported $5.4 billion, bringing trade to nearly $11.5 billion. Kazakhstan led again at $2 billion, followed by Azerbaijan at $1.9 billion, Uzbekistan at $1.3 billion and Kyrgyzstan at $832.8 million.
Turkmenistan, Hungary and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) hold observer status in the organization. The Economic Cooperation Organization is an observer organization.
