First Caspian Environmental Summit Held in Turkmenistan

The First Caspian Environmental Summit was held Oct. 9 in the Avaza National Tourist Zone under the chairmanship of Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the summit, Turkmen state media reported.

The heads of state thanked Turkmenistan for initiating the summit and stressed the importance of joint efforts by Caspian littoral countries to address environmental challenges facing the Caspian Sea, including its declining water levels, and to preserve its ecosystem and biodiversity.

Serdar Berdimuhamedov supported a proposal to establish a commission on the Caspian Sea’s declining water levels at the level of deputy prime ministers. The commission is intended to develop and propose coordinated measures to counter the negative processes associated with the sea’s shrinking, based on objective scientific data.

To organize the commission’s work, Berdimuhamedov proposed promptly defining its tasks and establishing specialized working groups involving scientists, experts, specialists and representatives of government agencies from Caspian littoral countries.

“Turkmenistan fully welcomes these proposals and will actively participate in the commission’s work. We also support holding the commission’s first meeting in Azerbaijan in the first half of 2027,” Serdar Berdimuhamedov expressed.

Turkmenistan also supported an initiative to develop an interstate program for preserving the Caspian Sea’s water resources. Berdimuhamedov stressed that joint measures by Caspian littoral states should be based on existing international agreements, including the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea and the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, as well as agreements reached at summits of Caspian littoral states.

At the end of the summit, the heads of the Caspian littoral states signed a Decision of the Heads of Caspian Littoral States. A statement by the chair of the Caspian Environmental Summit was also adopted.