Ambassador Ramil Hasanov, Secretary General of the Turkic Council pays an official visit on 3-5 November 2015 to London in order to attend 9th United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) & World Tourism Market Ministers’ Summit on “Destination Branding: new challenges in a changing market” and the UNTWO activities to be held on the margins of this Summit.

On 3 November 2015, he attended the abovementioned Ministers’ Summit where several Ministers in Charge of Tourism Affairs in Eurasia and beyond as well as senior representatives of Facebook, Google and Eurostar took the floor. The interactive Summit was moderated by Richard Quest, anchor of CNN International.

On the sidelines of the Summit, he had a bilateral meeting with Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the UNWTO. In the meeting, Ambassador Hasanov thanked Secretary General Rifai for the invitation to the Summit as an outcome of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Turkic Council and the UNTWO on 26 June 2015 in Madrid. He raised the importance to jointly take necessary steps for the revival of Silk Road as an attractive tourism destination. Both Secretary General reiterated their firm commitment to work together in this direction. Furthermore Secretary General Hasanov met also with Ministers in Charge of Tourism, senior public and pivate sectors` representatives in the field of tourism including the ones from the Member States of the Turkic Council on the sidelines of the Summit.

The aforementioned MOU constitutes the first official document for cooperation signed between the Turkic Council and a UN specialized Agency.