Secretary General of the Turkic Council, Ambassador Ramil Hasanov had a meeting with Secretary General of UN World Tourism Organization (UN WTO) Taleb Rifai on 16 December 2014 in Madrid, upon invitation of the latter. At the meeting, Ambassador Hasanov briefied his counterpart on the acitivities of the Turkic Council with regard to the tranformation of the historical Silk Road into a well-established tourism brand, while reminding him that the Turkic Council Summit of Heads of State taken place in Bodrum in 2014 was devoted to tourism cooperation. Noting that they closely follow the activities of the Turkic Council on this field of cooperation, Secretary General Rifai expressed that they would be delighted to develop cooperation between the two organizations on a range of areas in the period ahead. In this regard, the Parties agreed on invitation of the Turkic Council to the relavant meetings at the expert and Ministerial levels as well as participation of the officials of the UN WTO in the projects of the Turkic Council including the establishment of the Turkic Council/ Modern Silk Road Joint Tour Package. Moreover, organization of joint events by the two organizations in Istanbul has been also included on the agenda of the said cooperation. 

Two Secretary Generals decided on the launch of preparation for signing of a MoU framing the parameters of cooperation between the two organizations. Preparatory work for such a MoU at the expert level will be started soon. 

Project Directors Pelin Musabay Baki and Farid Damirli from the delegation of the Turkic Council and Alla Peressolova, Zoltan Somogyi, Esencan Terzibaşoğlu and Musallim Afandiyev from the delegation of the UN WTO attended the meeting.