Central Asia has an opportunity to change the development trajectory by diversifying the economy towards non-primary industries, Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), Baghdad Amreyev said, TurkicWorld reports.

Amreyev made the statement during the panel session on the theme of “The Investment Potential of Central Asia” as part of the Tashkent International Investment Forum.

Within the framework of discussions on ways for attracting greater regional investments to Central Asia, which could serve as a win-win situation and a regional approach to investment attraction, Secretary General underlined that the main levers for developing the potential of the region are the development of regional infrastructure, support for the cross-border movement of goods, services, people and capital, harmonization of the regulatory framework, active development of complementarity, coordination of investment attraction strategies.

Amreyev noted that as the main mechanisms such as Turkic Chamber of Commerce and Industry Turkic Investment Fund, cooperation among the Special Economic Zones established and ongoing under Organization as well as institutional measures undertaken by the OTS will provide additional favourable conditions for attracting investments in the region.

He also added that the region has an opportunity to change the development trajectory by diversifying the economy towards non-primary industries. This requires investments in infrastructure projects and for the development of promising non-primary industries.