Turkic Council Secretary General Ambassador Ramil Hasanov attended and delivered a speech at the 7th Ministerial Conference of Heart of Asia

Turkic Council Secretary General Ambassador Ramil Hasanov attended and delivered a speech at the 7th Ministerial Conference of Heart of Asia–Istanbul Process on “Security and Economic Connectivity towards a Strengthened Heart of Asia Region”.

Invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Secretary General Ambassador Ramil Hasanov attended the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process 7th Ministerial Conference on “Security and Economic Connectivity towards a Strengthened Heart of Asia Region” held on 1 December 2017 in Baku as the guest of the host country.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani delivered inaugural speeches after the welcoming remarks of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan H.E. Salahuddin Rabbani.

Taking the floor at the plenary session, Secretary General Ambassador Hasanov declared the readiness of the Turkic Council as a regional organization to assume responsibility that would complement the individual roles of its Member States Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey in this genuine ground for cooperation on Afghanistan underlining that the Turkic Council will always be beside Afghanistan and the Afghan people.

In this context, he reiterated the Turkic Council’s commitment to the common principles of providing security and stability in Afghanistan and the desire of the Turkic Council to take part in the Istanbul Process with its concrete and result oriented projects.

During and following the conference, the Secretary General had a series of bilateral meetings and talks with the representatives of other international organizations as well as ministers attending to the conference.

The Baku Declaration, which also included a provision about the participation of the Turkic Council in the Heart of Asia Istanbul Process, was adopted at the end of the conference.

Project Director Jeyhun Shahverdiyev, Chief of Protocol Emre Yurdakul and Deputy Director of Financial and Administrative Affairs Araz Salmanov accompanied Secretary General Hasanov at the conference.