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Caspian Environmental Summit: Sea’s environmental problems to be discussed in five-party format - COMMENTARY

09 October 2026 13:34 (UTC +04:00)

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will participate in the Caspian Environmental Summit to be held on October 9, 2026, at Turkmenistan’s Awaza National Tourist Zone during his working visit to Turkmenistan, APA reports.

The Summit, which will be held at the initiative of the President of Turkmenistan, aims to preserve the environmental condition of the Caspian Sea, protect the environment, and strengthen cooperation among the Caspian littoral states.

The main agenda of the Summit is expected to include issues such as the environmental security of the Caspian Sea, the decline in the sea level, the effects of climate change, the protection of biodiversity and biological resources, the prevention of pollution, and cooperation in scientific research. The decline in the level of the Caspian Sea is one of the particularly pressing issues, and Turkmen officials have emphasized the importance of joint scientific and practical activities by the five Caspian littoral states in this regard.

One of the important areas of the Summit will be strengthening regional cooperation among Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The event is also significant in terms of further developing activities carried out within the framework of the Tehran Convention. The Convention is one of the main regional legal mechanisms of the Caspian littoral states for the protection of the marine environment of the Caspian Sea. Issues related to the implementation of the Convention, monitoring of biological resources, and the application of modern environmental technologies have also been discussed at recent environmental conferences held in Awaza.

The initiative to hold the Summit was put forward by Turkmenistan on September 23, 2025, at the plenary meeting of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov proposed holding a Caspian Environmental Forum in 2026. During the subsequent preparation process, this initiative evolved into the format of a high-level meeting dedicated to the environmental issues of the Caspian Sea.

At an event marking Caspian Sea Day held in Tehran on August 11, 2026, the Turkmen side announced that a meeting devoted to environmental issues at the level of heads of state was planned to be held in Awaza on October 9, 2026.

Thus, the summit to be held in Awaza is envisaged as an important international platform for discussing the environmental problems of the Caspian Sea in a five-party format and for forming new mechanisms for long-term regional cooperation. The documents to be adopted within the framework of the Summit are expected to determine the directions of future cooperation in the areas of the Caspian Sea’s environmental security, biodiversity protection, and adaptation to climate change.