During his official visit to Madrid to attend the Official Opening of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and FITUR 2017, on the evening of 18 January 2017, Abzal Saparbekuly, Deputy Secretary General participated in the 13th UNWTO Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner.
Before the Ceremony, on the margins of FITUR 2017, he had a meeting with Mr.Huseyin Yayman, Deputy Minister of the Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey. Durıng the meeting, they took up the steps to be taken to fully implement the Modern Silk Road Joint Tour Package at the earliest convenience. Furthermore, they also discussed the agenda of the Turkic Council in the field of tourism that will focus more on the contribution of Silk Road Tourism to the regional development in Eurasia.
Deputy Secretary General Saparbekuly also visited the Pavillon of Kazakhstan dedicated to EXPO 2017 together with Mr. Bakyt Dyussenbayev, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Spain.
Afterwards, Deputy Secretary General Saparbekuly and Ambassador Dyussenbayev had a meeting with the delegation of Valencia. In the meeting, he discussed the future joint projects with Mr. Jose Maria Chiquillo Barber who is a Member of Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain and the coordinator of the UNESCO Silk Road Online Project in Spain.
On the occasion of FİTUR 2017, Deputy Secretary General Saparbekuly had also talks with Mr. Azamat Zhamankulov, Deputy Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic.
This year, FITUR and the activities of the UNWTO related to the Officlal Opening of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development welcomes 65 Ministers and more than 150.000 participants.