ТASHKENT, January 20. /Dunyo IA.  Bakhtiyor Saidov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan and Hakan Fidan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, presided over the 4th meeting of the Joint Strategic Planning Group (JSPG) on January 20, 2026 in Ankara, reports Dunyo IA correspondent.

According to the information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, at the meeting, Foreign Ministers highlighted the common history, language and culture as the basis of their brotherly cooperation and reiterated their commitment to deepen the multifaceted Uzbek-Turkish cooperation in accordance with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of the two countries.

Foreign Ministers Bakhtiyor Saidov and Hakan Fidan discussed the ways for further strengthening Uzbekistan-Türkiye relationship on a wide range of areas, including trade and investments, energy security, regional connectivity, countering terrorism and other transnational threats, defence industry, culture, environment, education and tourism.

The Foreign Ministers expressed the great symbolic significance of the proclamation of 15 December as the World Turkic Language Family Day during the 43rd UNESCO General Conference, hosted by Uzbekistan in November 2025 in Samarkand, one of the ancient centres of the Turkic civilization.

The Foreign Ministers underscored that the 4+4 mechanism provides a unique platform for security, military, intelligence and foreign policy cooperation between the two countries. They expressed satisfaction with the results of the meeting of the 4+4 mechanism, attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Defence as well as the Heads of Intelligence Services of Uzbekistan and Türkiye today in Ankara and underlined the importance attached to the implementation of the updated Action Plan signed during the meeting.

The Foreign Ministers noted with appreciation the progress made on the implementation of the Action Plan of the 8th Meeting of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) and highlighted the importance of the JEC Meetings as the main mechanism for the development of concrete cooperation in the commercial-economic field between the two countries.

Emphasizing the importance of the Trans-Caspian East-West Middle Corridor as a sustainable and reliable transport and energy route in connecting Central Asia to the international markets through Türkiye and acknowledging the significance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad for the Middle Corridor infrastructure, the Foreign Ministers noted with appreciation the progress made on the implementation of the Ankara Declaration on the Results of the Second Trilateral Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Trade/Economy and Transport/Infrastructure of Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan of January 29, 2025. Underlining the operational function of this mechanism, the Ministers reiterated their commitment to continue trilateral cooperation in this format.

Foreign Ministers reaffirmed their resolve in empowering the Turkic World through its most prominent platform of cooperation, the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) as well as through other Turkic Cooperation Organizations (TCO).

They underlined with satisfaction the joint efforts aiming to enhance cooperation within the OTS and the TCO’s and reiterated their support to the joint activities for further development of political, trade, economic, cultural, legal and people-to-people ties between the members and observers.

In addition to the OTS, the Foreign Ministers reconfirmed their desire to further deepen cooperation within the international and regional platforms such as the UN, OSCE, CICA, OIC and the ECO.

The Foreign Ministers agreed to maintain the understanding for mutually supporting each other’s candidacies to various international positions, wherever it is possible.

Foreign Ministers elaborated on regional and international issues, including Afghanistan, Gaza, Ukraine and Syria.

The Ministers expressed their satisfaction with the frequency of high-level visits, emphasizing that such visits further deepen cooperation across various fields and reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining this dynamic momentum.

The JSPG meeting provided a timely opportunity to discuss the preparations of the upcoming 4th meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council under the Co-Chairmanship of the Presidents of Uzbekistan and Türkiye, to be held in Ankara.

Photo by Dunyo IA