ASHGABAT, June 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested convening a conference of countries that are parties to the Tehran Convention, whose goal is to protect the environment in the Caspian Sea region.
The Russian leader said at Wednesday’s meeting of the Caspian Summit in Ashgabat that it was of paramount importance to enhance cooperation between the littoral nations in the areas of environmental safety and the conservation of the Caspian Sea and marine resources. Putin supported the idea of his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan advocating that capabilities be bolstered for prompt responses to natural and man-made events and phenomena in the Caspian region, which have a negative impact on the wellbeing and lives of people in the region.
"We believe that to more effectively conserve the fragile marine ecosystems, it is necessary to finalize the process of creating a corresponding legal and treaty framework based on the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment in the Caspian Sea, known as the 2003 Tehran Convention. In this regard, we suggest considering convening a conference of the parties to this convention in the near future," the Russian president said.
Among the environmental problems in the Caspian Sea region, Putin listed the dramatically shrinking population of sturgeon. The head of state emphasized that Russia strives to contribute greatly to conserving the Caspian Sea’s biodiversity. For example, it annually releases up to 40 million sturgeon hatchlings into the Caspian Sea, so thanks to this fact, more than 80% of what is known as Russian sturgeon comes from Russian fish farms nowadays. Moreover, according to the Russian leader, the program for protecting marine mammals and birds is being implemented successfully, as well as a program for the purification of seawater.
Additionally, Putin pointed out that Moscow calls for the faster enactment of the already signed documents in such crucial areas as the war on terror, fighting organized crime and preventing maritime crimes.
"It would be quite useful to expedite the work on drafting new negotiated agreements on cooperation in maritime safety, search and rescue at sea, scientific research and the fight against poaching and drug trafficking," he enumerated.