UN, September 30. /TASS/. In his address to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov urged UN member states to support the initiative of creating a special UN program for conservation of the Aral Sea basin.

"We have embarked on the implementation of Turkmenistan s initiative regarding the elaboration of a Special UN Programme for the Aral Sea basin and earmarking the Aral problem as a separate sphere of Organization s work. I call on the United Nations member states to support our initiative," he said.

"The UN resolution on the cooperation between the United Nations and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea adopted by consensus on 18 April this year can serve as a good basis for this," the Turkmen leader went on.

"It is apparent that preservation of the Aral Sea can no longer be considered as an internal regional problem. Its successful solution requires assistance from the international community, an innovative purpose-oriented and comprehensive international approach and systematic participation of the United Nations in this endeavor," he added.

Earlier, Berdymukhamedov urged Central Asian leaders to support a program of intensified cooperation between the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) and the United Nations.

The Aral Sea, formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 square kilometers has been shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects. In an ongoing effort in Kazakhstan to save the North Aral Sea, a dam project was completed in 2005, with construction financed by the World Bank, helping to bring water back to northern areas.