Caspian Sea environment to be discussed in Ashgabat
By Nigar Orujova
Caspian Sea littoral states will discuss environmental issues of the Caspian Sea in Ashgabat on May 28-30.
The Turkmen government reported that the fifth session of the conference of the parties to the Framework Convention for the Protection of Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea is expected to gather in Turkmenistan representatives of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.
The next regional event will strengthen and expand the international relations aimed at ensuring the environmental security and the sustainable development of the Caspian Sea region Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov's order issued with this regard reads.
The Caspian Sea littoral states signed Tehran Convention, Framework Convention for the Protection of Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, in November 2003.
The Framework Convention was the first legally binding regional agreement signed by all the five Caspian littoral states, laying out general requirements and an institutional mechanism for environmental protection in the resource-rich Caspian region.
Turkmenistan ratified the Tehran Convention in August 2004. The convention entered into force on August 12, 2006, after being ratified by all the Caspian Sea countries. While the legal status of the sea is still a matter of discussion among the littoral states.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia agreed on the delimitation of the sea in early 2000, the other littoral states -Turkmenistan and Iran- have not reached a consensus yet.