Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Nov. 7 / Trend H. Hasanov /
The participants of the Caspian Environment Forum in Turkmen Avaza have favored developing measures to preserve and enhance the natural resources of the Caspian Sea, the Altyn Asir TV channel said on Wednesday.
The event was attended by delegations from Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
The Caspian Sea washes the coast of Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkmenistan. It is the world's largest intra-basin that is not associated with the World Ocean, which has a climate-value.
The Caspian Sea is unique due to various relict flora and fauna, including the world's largest herd of sturgeon (90 percent of the world reserves).
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow appealed to event participants.
"An independent and neutral Turkmenistan attaches great importance to integrated settlement of environmental protection issues in the framework of international agreements," the president said.
Earlier Ashgabat proposed to establish inter-regional UN center to address the issues of climate change and made a proposal on the establishment of the Caspian Environmental Forum.
In late August, at a governmental meeting BerdimuhamedoW noted that Turkmenistan stands for constructive dialogue on the Caspian Sea.
The route to Europe via the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan looks more and more attractive to Turkmenistan, which has the fourth-largest natural gas reserves in the world.The Turkmen side expressed readiness to conduct appropriate environmental expertise with participation of international experts for implementation of this project.