President of Turkmenistan proposes to establish Caspian Ecology Initiative

Turkmenistan proposed to establish the Caspian Ecology Initiative, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow said at the General Debate of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Report informs.

According to him, last summer, during the Sixth Caspian Summit in Turkmenistan, all participants confirmed their readiness for close cooperation on ecological issues:
"I believe that this creates good opportunities for the start of a broad-based and systemic interaction of coastal countries with the UN.

"In this respect, Turkmenistan proposes to establish the Caspian Ecology Initiative, which could become an international platform for productive and professional interaction on a wide range of issues related to the protection of the Caspian Sea and its biological resources."

Berdimuhamedow believes that it is time for the UN to pay more attention to ecological problems in Central Asia:

"There is a need for proactive consideration of implementing concrete measures to create an all-inclusive environmental strategy for our region, which has a population of almost 80 million people, unique natural resources, biodiversity, and is located in the zone of serious ecological risks.

"As an important step in adopting a strategic approach to environmental problems in Central Asia, Turkmenistan proposes to establish a specialized agency, the Regional Center for Climate Change Technologies in Central Asia, which will work on climate issues in a substantive and systematic way.

"We are ready to provide the organizational and technical conditions for the functioning of such a Center in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan."