BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 7. Turkmenistan has placed the Caspian Sea's shallowing at the center of an international training program on sustainable marine management.
This was reflected in a statement published by the press service of the Turkmen government on September 7 following the opening of the 11th International Training Course "Caspian Sea - Sustainable Development and Management" in Ashgabat.
According to the statement, this year's program gives particular attention to the environmental condition of the Caspian Sea and issues related to its declining water level.
The course, organized by Turkmenistan's Foreign Ministry, the Caspian Sea Institute and the International Ocean Institute, brings together specialists from all five Caspian states and runs through September 18.
"The course places special emphasis on issues of international maritime law, as well as environmental problems in the Caspian Sea. In this regard, the relevance of the course’s subject matter is underscored in light of the proclamation of 2028 as the “Year of International Law, 2028” by UN General Assembly Resolution 80/295, initiated by Turkmenistan and adopted on July 24, 2026, by consensus with the support of 78 co-sponsoring states," the report noted.
The statement noted that the program has been held in Turkmenistan since 2013 and has trained 175 specialists from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and China.
The issue has gained increasing economic significance as lower Caspian water levels affect port operations, shipping routes and coastal infrastructure across the region. For Turkmenistan, whose Turkmenbashi International Seaport serves as a key gateway for Trans-Caspian cargo flows, maintaining efficient maritime connectivity has become increasingly important for trade and logistics.
The Caspian is also central to offshore energy production, fisheries and regional transport projects linking Central Asia with Azerbaijan and onward to Europe. As cargo volumes along the Middle Corridor continue to grow, the management of changing sea conditions is becoming a practical issue not only for environmental policy but also for long-term infrastructure planning and regional commerce.
