Kyrgyz President makes number of proposals to consolidate CCTS efforts to combat COVID-19

Bishkek, Apr. 10, 2020. /Kabar/. At the extraordinary meeting of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS), President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov made a number of proposals to consolidate efforts in combating the spread of coronavirus infection and its consequences. The CCTS meeting was held Friday in the format of videoconference, the press service of the Kyrgyz President reported. Sooronbay Jeenbekov noted the closure of the borders had a negative impact on the provision of the population and physicians with protective means. "Restrictions on the borders create difficulties for the state to fulfill its social obligations in time. According to forecasts, due to the consequences of the pandemic, the revenue part of our budget may decrease by 20%. In this regard, I propose to reduce the barriers on the borders for the supply of humanitarian goods, providing the population with daily goods, medicines and medical equipment. There is need to exchange the lists of food security goods, based on which it is necessary to develop a single register of goods of the Turkic Council," the President stressed. The Kyrgyz leader noted the need to develop mechanisms to reduce the prices of exports of the above goods between the member countries of the Organization, to facilitate mechanisms of administrative and customs duties on their delivery and the creation of the Anti-Crisis Fund of the Turkic Council. At the same time, he highlighted the need to instruct the Turkic Council Secretariat to create a single online platform. "The online platform will accelerate the process of timely verification of our citizens arriving from other countries, as well as identification of persons infected and people who had been contacted with them. It will serve as a basis for organizing a videoconference of our health ministers to exchange information and experience, as well as to jointly counteract the disease," the President stressed. Besides, Jeenbekov added many citizens of the Council countries are currently unable to return from abroad due to restrictions imposed in connection with the coronavirus. "There is a threat that many of our compatriots working on the territory of the member countries of the Organization will be left unemployed because of the consequences of this infection. In this regard, I would like to ask you to provide comprehensive assistance to citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic who find themselves in a difficult situation, and to provide them with migration benefits. For my part, I declare that Kyrgyzstan is ready to support on its territory citizens of the Organization’s member states who need help,” the head of state said. He expressed confidence that the above proposals of the Kyrgyz side are consistent with the spirit of brotherly relations and will find support. Sooronbay Jeenbekov thanked the leadership of the Turkic Council member states - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkey for their support in the current situation. "Today we face a lot of problems in social, trade and economic and migration spheres. We need joint actions to prevent further spread of the disease in our countries. Close cooperation and joint struggle are very important in these difficult times,” the Kyrgyz leader concluded. The CCTS summit was attended by Presidents of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, and Secretary General of the Turkic Council Baghdad Amreyev. At the extraordinary meeting chaired by Azerbaijan, CCTS leaders discussed the issue of consolidation of efforts of Turkic speaking countries in the fight against the spread of coronavirus infection and its consequences. Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also took part at the video conference.