An agreement to establish a Business Council of Turkic Speaking States was signed as part of the Summit of Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking states on 20 October 2011 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Business Council will combine the efforts by major business organizations to boost trade and investment between the four Turkic-speaking countries. Representatives of regional major organisations, companies as well as government officials from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan participated to this important meeting. During this first meeting the current issues and prospects for economic cooperation along with a series of projects and programs between the business communities in the four countries were discussed.
Speaking at the meeting, Secretary General of the Turkic Council Mr. Halil Akinci said the Business Council has two main tasks which are finding new areas for cooperation and elimination of existing barriers to mutual trade and economic relations .He also said: ‘I know that all entrepreneurs complain of the customs procedures. The customs issue prevails while the trade operations between our countries. So, we have to develop a system that would be simplier and easier for our countries’. He added that the main problems are the issues of border crossing and obtaining transit documents and he suggested a transport and communications agency which could be established within the Turkic Business Council to solve these issues.
