Samarkand hosted the 16th meeting of the working group of representatives of the tourism industry of the Organization of Turkic States.

The event, organized by the Secretariat of the Organization of Turkic States together with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan, was attended offline by officials in the sphere, representatives of the tourism sector of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and online by specialists from Hungary and Turkmenistan.

The participants discussed issues of the implementation of the initiatives of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the development of an additional joint roadmap within the framework of the “Holy Pilgrimage” project and the organization of events for holding exhibitions of artisans, ethnosport competitions, preservation and reconstruction of cultural heritage monuments within the framework of the status “Kokand – Tourism Capital of the Turkic World”, put forward at the meeting of the leaders of the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States and observers on 12 November 2021.

“On 24 June 2021, at the 6th meeting of the ministers of tourism of the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States and observer countries, it was decided to develop cooperation based on the “Holy Pilgrimage” project, and the city of Kokand was declared the “Tourism Capital of the Turkic World”, says Deputy Secretary-General of the Turkic Council Mirvokhid Azimov. – Within the framework of this project, it is planned to develop cooperation between member countries and observers, hold international festivals, competitions, national sports competitions. At the event, we exchanged views on the development of partnerships between the scientific centers of member countries and observers.

Following the meeting, the guests visited the monuments of the historical and cultural heritage of Samarkand, took part in events organized on the occasion of the 581st anniversary of Alisher Navoi’s birth.

G. Khasanov, UzA