Geneva hosts second meeting of Caspian Sea special group

This week, Geneva hosted the second meeting of the special group established by the decision of the environment ministers of the Caspian littoral states to prepare draft documents on the organization of the Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea.

The meeting, organized by the Regional Office for Europe of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on December 18-19, acting as the interim Secretariat of the Convention, was attended by delegations from Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

The meeting continued discussions on the conceptual foundations for organizing the Secretariat of the Convention.

The parties exchanged views on issues related to the institutional mechanisms for locating the Secretariat in the Caspian Sea region.

As part of the meeting, the interim Secretariat of the Convention briefed the participants on the progress of discussions regarding the draft Action Plan addressing changes in the Caspian Sea level.