Iran Calls For Environmental Review Of Caspian Sea Projects

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2019) Iran's First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has called on the Caspian littoral states to take the environmental aspects into consideration while implementing projects in the Caspian Sea.

"The Caspian Sea possesses rich energy resources ... The littoral states should take the environmental aspects into consideration while exploiting such resources," Jahangiri said at the First Caspian Economic Forum, currently being held in Turkmenistan, as quoted by the Mehr news agency.

According to the official, the Caspian littoral states should consider a possibility of establishing a kind of "environmental secretariat" to carry out collective supervision of projects in terms of their environmental conformity.

The forum started on Sunday and will run through Monday in the Awaza tourist zone. It has brought together senior government officials, representatives of the private sector and academic communities from all five Caspian littoral states, as well as from a number of international organizations to improve trade and investment related to the Caspian Sea, which is estimated to contain about 50 billion barrels of oil and 9 trillion cubic meters of gas.