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Turkic-speaking countriesâ€™ 9th summit begins in Nakhchivan â€“ UPDATED

Turkic-speaking countriesâ€™ 9th summit begins in Nakhchivan â€“ <font color=red> UPDATED </font>

03 October 2009 09:09 (UTC +04:00)

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Turkey Abdullah Gul, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Prime Minister of Turkmenistan Khidir Saparliyev are attending the summit. The heads of states took a memory photo and the President Ilham Aliyev delivered welcoming speech at the opening ceremony. The head of state said there have been substantial changes in the strengthening of bilateral and multilateral relations and cooperation between the Turkic-speaking countries in 17 years passed since the first summit in 1992. The president said they held useful discussions on the regional and international issues during the previous summits and achieved great progress in the strengthening of relations based on the principle of equality and acceleration of the economic and social development.

The first meeting of the leaders of Turkic-speaking countries was held in Ankara in 1992, following summits were held in Istanbul in 1994, Bishkek 1995, Tashkent 1996, Astana 1998, Baki 2000, Istanbul 2001 and Antalya 2006. The heads of states will address the 9th summit in Nakhchivan and then will sign the documents.