BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 20. Kyrgyzstan has
taken over the chairmanship of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic
States (TURKPA) from Kazakhstan as the Assembly’s latest meetings
opened in Bishkek on October 20, the press service of the Jogorku
Kenesh (Kyrgyzstan’s parliament) said.


The meetings are being held at the Yrys-Ordo congress hall.
Parliament leaders first gathered for a session of the Assembly’s
Council, where the chairmanship was formally handed over. Aibek
Dadebay, chairman of Kazakhstan’s Kurultai, passed the ceremonial
gavel to Marlen Mamataliev, chairman of the Jogorku Kenesh.


Marlen Mamataliev then chaired the rest of the session and
presented the priorities of the Kyrgyz chairmanship. He said
parliamentary diplomacy plays a major role in strengthening ties
between fraternal peoples. TURKPA now faces new tasks, he said, and
cooperation should not be limited to celebrating shared historical
and cultural closeness but should deliver concrete results that
affect citizens’ everyday lives.


Among the priorities he named were joint work on legislation for
digital transformation and artificial intelligence, stronger
mechanisms for expanding transport and economic links, greater
involvement of young people in parliamentary processes and public
life, and the development of education, science, culture and
humanitarian ties as a separate track of parliamentary
diplomacy.


Marlen Mamataliev also said geopolitical and economic shifts are
accelerating while transport corridors and energy and food security
are growing in importance. In these conditions, he said,
cooperation among Turkic states based on mutual trust and shared
interests is necessary.







During its chairmanship, Kyrgyzstan will also pay particular
attention to interaction between standing committees, cooperation
among young lawmakers and women parliamentarians, and ties between
member parliaments and expert communities, he added.


Leaders of other member parliaments then spoke and offered their
own proposals for deepening cooperation. Issues on the agenda of
the 15th plenary session were also discussed.


Meanwhile, Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova
and Numan Kurtulmuş, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of
Türkiye, attended the Council session.