Secretary General of the Turkic Council Baghdad Amreyev attended the Silk Road Mayor’s Meeting on the United Nations South-South Cooperation in Smart Green Cities and Tourism held on 25 October 2018 in Dubai during the World Green Economy Summit 2018. The Meeting was organized jointly by The World Green Economy Organization (WGEO), the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), and the Maritime Continental Silk Road Cities Alliance (MCSR-CA).

Sixty participants representing 20 cities in Africa, Arab States, Asia, Europe and the CIS regions attended the meeting. Mayors, municipality and state government officials, and institutional partners of the MCSR-CA and the WGEO networks; as well as representatives from international and regional organizations, including the Turkic Council, UNESCO and UNIDO, shared solutions as well as challenges faced by cities from the South in promoting tourism and smart green cities.

In his address at the opening ceremony, Secretary General Amreyev emphasized that cities located along the Silk Road can work towards sustainable development also by promoting and supporting tourism. Amongst other benefits, tourism related activities can bring much needed financial resources, provide incentives to improve infrastructure, provide jobs and training opportunities for local populations, and revive and support traditional activities and customs. He stressed the huge tourism potential of the Turkic Council Member States with their unique historical and cultural heritage, landscape and nature, which respond to the new trends in world tourism.

Consequently, Secretary General provided detailed information about the Turkic Council “Modern Silk Road Joint Tour Package” project and its official cooperation with leading international organizations such as UNWTO and UNOSSC in the field of tourism.

Secretary General informed that the Turkic Council Member States will take required actions to render the Joint Tour Package more competitive. He mentioned that the Turkic Council continue its work to include historical cities from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in the Tour Package.

B. Amreyev underlined Turkic Council’s desire to develop partnership with all stakeholders in tourism in local, national, and international level to further expand international recognition of the Modern Silk Road Tour Package. In this context he mentioned that the Turkic Council and Maritime-Continental Silk Road Cities Alliance can also collaborate under the World Green Economy Organization’s Smart Cities and Smart Silk Road Initiative focusing on tourism.

Project Director Jeyhun Shahverdiyev accompanied the Secretary General Amreyev during the meeting.