Kassym-Jomart Tokayev addressed issues of transboundary water use and the environmental state of the Aral and Caspian Seas during a forum in Ashgabat, Akorda reports.

According to the Head of State, ensuring water security requires special attention.

“In the face of increasing water shortages, its conservation and rational use have already become a strategic, one might even say vital, priority for our country and, I believe, for other states in the region. The problems of transboundary water use and the environmental state of the Aral and Caspian Seas require urgent decisions and measures. In our view, through joint efforts based on mutual compromises, the effectiveness of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea could be strengthened. This would be facilitated by inviting Russia to become an observer member of the Fund. As for the Caspian Sea, at the current rate of shallowing, this dangerous process could become irreversible, inevitably triggering a chain reaction of environmental, socioeconomic, and even political consequences. Kazakhstan has initiated the development of a special Interstate Program aimed at preventing the destruction of the ecosystem and the shallowing of the Caspian Sea. We call on the entire international community to support our efforts to preserve this unique body of water,” the president said.