Details added after the third paragraph (the first version was posted at 10:48)
Kazakhstan, Almaty, Oct. 21 / Trend special correspondent E. Huseynov /
The First Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS) has kicked off today at the Intercontinental Hotel in Almaty.
The summit is being attended by presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - Ilham Aliyev, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Roza Otunbayeva. Turkey is represented by Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag.
The Kazakh president welcomed the delegates and expressed his gratitude for their attendance. He stressed that under the agreement, the summit objective will be the development of economic cooperation of the Turkic speaking states.
Nazarbayev considers it necessary to do more work to bring the Turkic speaking states together. Over time, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan will join the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, but the Secretariat needs to work out the necessary agenda to prepare these two countries for accession to the Council.
He expressed satisfaction that the CCTS Secretariat had been operating in Istanbul since last year. He said the Turkic world unites more than 40 nations and nationalities, which amounts to 200 million people.
Nazarbayev went on to stress the importance of further enhancing relations among the Turkic countries in science, culture and sports, as well as efforts in the economic sphere and in particular, to counter the impending global crisis.
He considers it necessary to increase freight traffic and transit among the Turkic speaking countries, as well as engage in a bilateral trade turnover, the current level of which does not meet these countries' interests and capacities.
Nazarbayev also supported the Azerbaijani President's initiative to establish the Cultural Foundation of the Turkic speaking states in Baku. He said Astana will be the cultural capital of the Turkic speaking states for 2012.