Budapest, May 21, AZERTAC

The Informal Summit of the Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) was held on May 21 in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the event.

Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán welcomed President Ilham Aliyev.

The Summit commenced with a family photo.

Later, the Informal Summit of the Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States officially began.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán touched upon the importance of the Summit. He emphasized the strategic nature of Azerbaijan-Hungary relations and said, “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev. Because last year, the first gas was transported from Azerbaijan to Hungary. This had never happened before. This is the first time it has happened. Let me assure you, Mr. President, that we will be able to repay this in the future.

I would also like to thank President Ilham Aliyev for providing an opportunity for large Hungarian energy companies to work in the oil and gas sector in Azerbaijan. This has opened up new opportunities for us, as we do not have our own energy resources. The strategic importance of Azerbaijan-Hungary relations is of great importance for us.”

In his remarks, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov expressed his gratitude to the Hungarian side for the high-level organization of the event.

Noting that the Kyrgyz Republic highly appreciated Hungary's contributions to the Organization of Turkic States, Sadyr Zhaparov said, “We expect the Turkic Investment Fund, which was officially established last year, to begin its project activities soon, and this is an important step forward. This Fund will serve as an important mechanism for supporting national priorities such as trade, logistics, infrastructure, digital economy, energy, industry, tourism, and entrepreneurship. As a clear example of positive experience, I can note with satisfaction the successful results of the Kyrgyz-Azerbaijani, Kyrgyz-Uzbek, and Kyrgyz-Hungarian development funds operating in Kyrgyzstan.”

President Ilham Aliyev later delivered a speech at the event.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Dear Heads of State,

First of all, I thank Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for the warm hospitality.

The development of relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary is gratifying. This is my 6th visit to Hungary. Mr. Orbán has paid 7 visits to Azerbaijan. Hungary is Azerbaijan’s reliable strategic partner.

Hungary is a country that pursues an independent policy, and its international standing continues to grow. I congratulate Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on all the successes achieved.

The first informal Summit of the Heads of State of Organization of Turkic States was held on Azerbaijan’s initiative in Shusha. I am delighted that, as a continuation of this initiative, a second Informal Summit has been organized.

I congratulate President Sadyr Japarov on Kyrgyzstan’s successful ongoing chairmanship in the organization.

This year, Azerbaijan will host the formal Summit of the Organization of Turkic States and I invite you to Azerbaijan to attend the Summit.

The volume of Azerbaijan’s investments in the member states of the organization now exceeds a total of $20 billion.

The Turkic Investment Fund is expected to officially begin its operations this year.

Our cooperation with the Turkic states in the transport sector is enhancing. In recent years, Azerbaijan has made substantial investments in highways, railroads, seaports, shipyards, and air transport. As a result, despite being a landlocked country, Azerbaijan has become one of the transport and logistics hubs in Eurasia.

Cargo shipments from Türkiye and the Central Asian countries via Azerbaijan amounted to 11 million tons in 2024.

We have created new cooperation formats with the neighboring countries, and established joint ventures. Last year, thanks to Azerbaijan’s investments, the cargo handling capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad - part of the Middle Corridor - was increased to 5 million tons.

We place special significance on the digitalization of the Middle Corridor. Work is underway on a project for a single digital platform to streamline transport operations and trade between the Caspian ports.

With a fleet of over 50 trade vessels, Azerbaijan provides important transit services for the Turkic states. 10 new vessels are currently under construction at the Baku Shipyard.

The cargo handling capacity of the Alat International Trade Seaport will reach 25 million tons from the current 15 million tons.

There are currently eight international airports in operation in Azerbaijan. The ninth airport will be commissioned soon. Three of the nine international airports are on Azerbaijan’s territory liberated from Armenian occupation. Additionally, a cargo terminal with a handling capacity of 1, 5 million tons is currently under construction.

Dear colleagues,

As you know, with the unanimous support of nearly 200 countries, Azerbaijan hosted a prominent conference - COP29, in November 2024. Despite having only 11 months for preparation, we managed to organize COP29 at a high level.

Around 77 thousand registered participants represented 197 countries. Seventy heads of state and government attended the Conference. At COP29, Azerbaijan succeeded in building a bridge between the Global North and the Global South. Crucial decisions on global climate agenda were made in Baku.

The primary achievement was reaching an agreement on a new finance target – increasing the previous commitment from $100 billion to $300 billion, to support the developing nations. Moreover, a consensus was reached on operationalizing international carbon markets – a topic that had remained elusive for the past 10 years. Loss and Damage Fund also became operational.

COP29 was a major success and will be remembered in history as the “Baku Breakthrough.”

At COP29, Presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement on the Development and Transmission of Green Energy. This agreement offers broad opportunities for our countries to export produced green energy to world markets via the Caspian Sea–Black Sea route.

In conclusion, I congratulate Hungary on successful holding of the Informal Summit and wish the Organization of Turkic States success.

Thank you.

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Speaking next, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that such summits are of great importance for taking steps in response to existing challenges.

Pointing to the fact that cooperation within the organization had increased significantly in the current complex geopolitical situation, the President of Kazakhstan noted, “In order to strengthen our integrity, it is important to reinforce the unity and solidarity of Turkic peoples. Kazakhstan has taken a number of measures in this regard. In particular, we have ratified the protocol on amendments to the Nakhchivan Agreement and appointed a permanent representative to the Organization of Turkic States. We plan to open a permanent representative office in the near future. In the current situation, it is important to focus on cooperation in the energy sector. We need to use the potential of the Organization to diversify the supply chain of oil, gas, and uranium. In this regard, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to His Excellency President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for supporting the initiative to increase gas exports from Kazakhstan to Europe. We highly value the support for our efforts by Türkiye and Hungary. In addition, the prospects for cooperation in the fields of digitalization and information technologies are very promising. This year, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan launched an important joint project to lay a fiber-optic cable along the bottom of the Caspian Sea. This project will significantly expand digital connectivity between our states and serve to strengthen regional integration. Such initiatives pave the way for the creation of a new digital corridor in Eurasia by enabling a secure exchange of information.”

President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in turn, emphasized Azerbaijan’s role in ensuring stability in the South Caucasus. He said, “We are closely following the processes taking place in the Caucasus region, which is of strategic importance to our world. We are pleased that our dear Azerbaijan has reached an agreement on a peace treaty with Armenia. If lasting peace is achieved between the two countries, this situation will certainly create ample opportunities for our Turkic world. In this regard, I am confident that the Victorious President, my dear Brother Ilham Aliyev, will write his name in history as a Leader who will bring peace to the region.”

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev also addressed the Summit. He said, “As is well known, last year we proposed an agreement on strategic partnership, eternal friendship, and brotherhood between Turkic states. Today, the importance and relevance of this document is even greater. It is beyond doubt that this agreement will contribute to bringing our peoples closer together and play the role of a long-term legal foundation for our multifaceted cooperation. I propose that this document be signed at the upcoming Baku Summit. The International Organization of Turkic Culture, TURKSOY, has a special role in the development of cooperation in the field of culture between our states. I do believe that, in order to raise our efforts in this area to a new level and further enhance the authority of TURKSOY, it is necessary to improve its activities and structure in accordance with modern requirements. I believe that it would be appropriate to instruct our Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Culture to prepare proposals for the Baku Summit on this matter.”

Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States Kubanychbek Omuraliev, in turn, expressed his satisfaction with the development of cooperation between member states of the Organization. He said, “In 2025, at a meeting of heads of customs authorities in Baku, an action plan was adopted on the implementation of the “eTIR” system and technical provisions of simplified customs corridor agreements. Our cooperation in the space sector is developing. At the fourth meeting held in Baku, member countries agreed to complete the “CubeSat” project by September 2025. I do hope that our joint satellite will be launched into orbit by the end of this year.

At the same time, the Turkic Identity project is about to be launched. This will enable citizens to travel to member countries with their national identity cards. Türkiye and Azerbaijan have already implemented such a project. Now we need to implement it in the Central Asian region. Also, the proposal of the working group on increasing the budget and staff of the organization’s Secretariat was agreed at the Shusha Summit and the 11th Summit in Bishkek. This proposal is related to a significant increase in the budget in the coming years due to the growing tasks set by member countries. Based on these proposals, relevant instructions have been given to the heads of state, and these will be reflected in the Budapest Declaration to be adopted today.”

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The Summit concluded with the signing of documents.