The High Level Round Table entitled “City Experiences on South-South Cooperation in Tourism for Sustainable Development” was co-organized by the Turkic Council, UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), Silk Road Cities Alliance and China International for Economic and Technical Exchanges on 30 November 2017 in Antalya within the Global South-South Development (GSSD) EXPO 2017 where the Turkic Council has been an implementing partner.
At the event, Dr. Ömer Kocaman, Deputy Secretary General of the Turkic Council made a presentation on the Turkic Council Modern Silk Road Joint Tour Package Project that has been considered as an exemplary project in South-South and triangular cooperation by the UN authorities.
The said high level round table was opened with the welcoming remarks of Jorge Chediek, Envoy of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation and Director of UNOSSC where he expressed his gratitude to the Turkic Council for its efforts in the realization of this round table.
Through the initiative of the Turkic Council, Elkhan Usubov, Executive Power of Sheki city of Azerbaijan, Amanbai Kaiypov, Government Representative of Naryn Province of Kyrgyzstan, Uzarbek Zylkybaev, Government Representative of Issyk Kul Province of Kyrgyzstan and Olzhaz Shintayev, Acting Director of Tourism Center of South Kazakhstan Region (Ontustik) participated in the round table and presented their cities and regions to the audience.
In his presentation, Deputy Secretary Kocaman briefed the participants on the methods used in the Turkic Council Modern Silk Road Joint Tour Package Project for the development of the cities of its Member States located along the Silk Road. He underlined that these tools involve vocational trainings, field visits, familiarization trips as well as the ways bringing the relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors of the Turkic Council Member States.
After the round-table, at the Directors General Forum, Deputy Secretary General Kocaman also made a presentation this time on the Turkic Council’s contributions to the empowerment of regional cooperation through South-South Cooperation approach.
In his presentation, he touched upon the areas such as tourism, customs and transportation as well as diplomacy where the Turkic Council offers opportunities of experience and knowledge sharing and facilitates the conduct of vocational training programs among its Member States as indicated in the Turkic Council-UNOSSC Joint Report.
Project Directors Pelin Musabay Baki, Ali Çiviler and Zhanar Nugumanara accompanied Deputy Secretary General Kocaman at both events.
