Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 14
By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:
A meeting on the Caspian issues opened in Ashgabat on April 14 at the level of authorized experts of the Caspian littoral countries, namely, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran, the Turkmen government reported on April 14.
The purpose of the meeting is to continue discussing the draft agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources of the Caspian Sea, according to the report.
The matter rests in the preparation of a regional document designed to preserve the rich natural world of the Caspian Sea, to ensure a coherent level of nature management, which is in the interests of economy and ecology of each party.
This document is planned to be prepared for the Caspian summit, scheduled for September 2014 in Astrakhan.
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland water reservoir not connected with the world's ocean.
It was reported in December 2013 that Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan agreed not to carry out commercial sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea in 2014.
There are a number of prerequisites for possible pollution of the Caspian Sea. Among those are the development of hydrocarbon reserves in the sea and the surrounding areas, the high density of population and industry in the adjacent areas, intensive agricultural development in the valleys which have rivers flowing into them, the lack of a river to the sea which is an explicit geochemical barrier and a closed basin.
Translated by NH
Edited by CN