Turkey's foreign minister set to tour Turkic countries

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's foreign minister is scheduled to pay visits to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan between March 5 and 10, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.

Mevlut Cavusoglu is slated to meet top Turkic officials during the visits, according to the ministry statement.

"As part of the visits, Minister Cavusoglu is planned to meet with Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President of Turkmenistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Sadyr Japarov, President of the Kyrgyz Republic as well as Ulukbek Maripov, Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic and Sardor Umurzakov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan," said the statement.

It added that the second meeting of the Turkish-Uzbek Joint Strategic Planning Group and the fifth meeting of the Turkish-Kyrgyz Joint Strategic Planning Group are to be held during the visits, Cavusoglu is to attend the official opening of the Turkish Consulate in Samarkand.

"Bilateral relations and regional developments will be discussed during the visits," added the statement.