Turkic leaders set agenda for stronger economic integration at Bishkek summit Transport, digital, and green agendas under the spotlight

In recent years, Azerbaijan and its partners in the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) have been collaboratively establishing a framework for trade preferences, expanding transport corridors, and launching new energy projects, including those aligned with the "green" agenda. The latest milestone in this direction was the 11th summit of the OTS heads of state, held in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan on November 6, under the slogan "Empowering the Turkic World: Economic Integration, Sustainable Development, Digital Future, and Security for All." As a result of the forum, attended by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, the Bishkek Declaration was signed, along with several documents related to security, the creation of a Council of Central Banks, cooperation in space, and more.

In a relatively short period, the member countries of the Organisation of Turkic States have successfully launched sustainable and viable mechanisms for economic integration, defining the contours of the Turkic world as a new geopolitical reality. Amid escalating global conflicts and economic crises, the Turkic world, spanning the vast Caspian region and the Middle East, stands as a symbol of friendship and business partnership, remaining an island of security and stability. Today, OTS countries are focused on advancing integration initiatives in transport, hydrocarbon and green energy, as well as pursuing joint investment projects across finance, industry, trade, tourism, IT, and space exploration.

"The Garabagh Declaration, signed at the Informal Summit of Heads of State in Shusha in July, contributes to further deepening cooperation. Azerbaijan will continue its efforts to strengthen the Organization of Turkic States. The current budget of the Organization of Turkic States is insufficient to achieve our goals. I do hope that Azerbaijan’s financial support of $2 million for the Secretariat of the Organization of Turkic States and $100,000 for the Council of Elders will contribute to further strengthening the organization’s capacity," stated Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev at the Bishkek summit.

Deepening cooperation within the Middle Corridor is a key objective for Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, located on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, as well as for the landlocked nations of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Together with Azerbaijan and Türkiye, the Turkic states are consistently advancing this agenda at all organisational forums.

"Recently, transportation through Azerbaijani territory via the East-West transport corridor has increased even more. Azerbaijan is increasing investments to raise the transmission capacity of this corridor, which connects Central Asian countries and Türkiye through Azerbaijan. From January to September 2024, transit shipments with member and observer states increased by about 15 per cent compared to the same period in 2023," noted President Aliyev.

The president also highlighted that a number of projects are currently being implemented to digitise the Middle Corridor and simplify trade, and these initiatives will enhance logistics efficiency and reduce costs.

Notably, OTS structures are actively involved in this work: Central Asian Turkic states, Azerbaijan, and Turkey are coordinating plans to optimise regional logistics, modernise transport infrastructure, and implement digital technologies, while unifying transport tariffs and customs legislation. To reduce delivery times for goods, a multimodal digital platform, the Digital Trade Corridor, has been launched. OTS countries, in partnership with China, are focused on significantly increasing freight traffic through the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), and in this regard, port and railway infrastructure in the Caspian region is being modernised.

With additional investments from Azerbaijan, the annual capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, an integral part of the Middle Corridor, has been increased from 1 to 5 million tonnes of cargo, while the capacity of the international trade port in Alat is being expanded from 15 to 25 million tonnes. Similar steps are being taken in Kazakhstan, where the marine hub in the port of Aktau is being modernised, which will enable an increase in container traffic to 300,000.

Moreover, since March 2021, a preferential trade regime has been in place between Türkiye and Azerbaijan, under which a zero-customs duty rate has been introduced for mutual supplies of certain goods. Similar agreements are expected to be signed soon by other OTS countries as part of the Trade Facilitation Strategy. The digitisation of trade mechanisms and the customs preference regime are expected to positively impact the expansion of trade relations between Turkic countries in the medium term.

Summit participants discussed the prospects of creating a free trade zone for services and investment. Additionally, as a result of the negotiations in Bishkek, the "Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA)" was signed. The implementation of this document, prepared at the initiative of the Centre for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy, will deepen cooperation among OTS countries in key areas such as e-commerce development, legislative harmonisation, customs regulation, and financial technologies (FinTech).

The OTS countries are striving to expand integration in the financial sector, including optimising the process of attracting concessional loans and implementing joint investment projects. In this regard, the Turkic Investment Fund was established, with its inaugural meeting held in May 2024 in Istanbul. "We think it is necessary to discuss more intensive work of the Turkic Investment Fund and to establish the Turkic Development Bank at our initiative,'" noted the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, speaking at the Bishkek summit. "It is also crucial to attract international financial institutions and foreign investment companies to projects of regional significance. In this regard, we propose organising the Turkic Investment Forum, with the first meeting ready to be held in Uzbekistan," he added.

Overall, the Bishkek summit proved to be a fruitful platform for advancing the ideas of financial cooperation among Turkic countries: during the forum, a memorandum was signed to establish the Council of Central Banks of OTS member states. The Council’s activities are aimed at strengthening effective cooperation between national regulators, conducting joint consultations and research, and exchanging expertise in areas such as monetary policy, financial stability, payment system development, and the promotion of fintech technologies.

Turkic cooperation is also advancing in the field of space exploration, with joint projects planned for launching communication satellites and optical low-earth orbit (LEO) devices. The topics of economic integration, security, and space cooperation were reflected in the agenda of the Bishkek summit, and as a result, agreements on cooperation in space were signed.

As noted by Kyrgyzstan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeenbek Kulubaev, the summit in Bishkek also addressed issues related to the green economy. In this regard, the Green Vision concept was presented, which will serve as a foundation for future cooperation among OTS member states in this area.