MUĞLA, Turkey — "Infrastructure work to revive the ancient 'Silk Road' route has already started", Turkey's Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik said on Thursday.

Speaking at the Fourth Turkic Council Summit in Muğla, Turkey, Çelik said that improvements on tourism and creating joint tour packages on a modern Silk Road were discussed during the meeting.

Çelik said that attendees discussed not only the economic output of tourism but also its connective power on culture and integration in a large region such as the Turkic world.

The minister added that topics such as economic development and transforming the Turkic world's cultural heritage into an attraction center with tourism potential was also debated.

Meanwhile, founder Secretary General of Turkic Council Halil Akıncı said that Ramil Hasanov was appointed as the new Secretary General of the council. Hasanov, from Azerbaijan, was the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries.