On November 24–26, 2025, the 9th meeting of the Commission on the Conservation, Rational Use of Aquatic Biological Resources of the Caspian Sea and the Management of Shared Stocks was held in Ashgabat at the Institute of the Caspian Sea of Turkmenistan.

At the Third Caspian Summit in Baku in November 2010, the National Leader of the Turkmen people and Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, proposed an initiative to develop an agreement on the regulation and management of biological resources among the five Caspian littoral states. In implementation of this initiative, the Turkmen side prepared a relevant draft agreement.

Between 2012 and 2014, a series of five-party negotiations were held, as a result of which experts prepared a mutually agreed text of the agreement. It was signed at the Fourth Caspian Summit in Astrakhan and entered into force in 2016.

The above-mentioned Commission was established in accordance with Article 10 of the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Conservation and Rational Use of Aquatic Biological Resources of the Caspian Sea.

Turkmenistan will chair the Commission in 2025–2026.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan (mfa.gov.tm).

During the meeting, the parties discussed the status of joint fish stocks, issues related to the conservation and reproduction of aquatic biological resources, and exchanged the results of scientific research. It was decided that no commercial fishing of sturgeon species will be carried out in 2026; fishing will be permitted only for scientific purposes and reproduction within agreed quotas.

A Protocol was signed following the meeting.