Turkic-speaking tourism ministers meet in Azerbaijan

The 7th meeting of the Ministers of Tourism of the Organization of Turkic States (OTG) started in Shamakhi today.

The meeting is attended by Secretary General of the organization Bagdad Amreyev, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage Aziz Abdukhakimov, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey Nadir Alpaslan, Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Yerkinbayev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan Mekan Ishanguliyev, as well as Extraordinary and the Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Hungary to Azerbaijan Viktor Sederkenyi, who has observer status in the organization. Deputy Minister of Culture of Turkmenistan Nursakhet Shirimov joined the event online, according to Report.

The meeting was opened by the Chairman of the State Agency for Tourism, Fuad Nagiyev. He said that the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) had a negative impact on the tourism sector of Azerbaijan, but the recovery process has started: "The number of tourists who visited our country in the first four months of this year increased by 103% compared to the same period last year."

In addition, he noted that Armenia was destroying cultural and historical monuments in the occupied Azerbaijani lands for many years: "After the liberation of Karabakh, restoration work is underway there. Karabakh will soon become the most visited place by the tourists."

As part of today's meeting, the 17th meeting of the working group on tourism was held in Shamakhi.