Specialists from five Caspian countries gathered in Ashgabat for a training course on sea management
The 9th training course "Caspian Sea - Sustainable Development and Management" opened on Monday, September 11, at the Archabil Hotel in Ashgabat. A ten-day seminar for employees of relevant departments of the Caspian countries, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea Institute in cooperation with the International Ocean Institute.
During the opening ceremony, Yuri Olyunin, Director of the training course, Myrat Atajanov, Head of the Turkmen Institute of the Caspian Sea, and Antonella Vassallo, Managing Director of the International Ocean Institute, made greetings.
After getting acquainted with the participants and teachers, groups were formed for more focused training sessions, which are conducted in English and include lectures, practical tasks, modeling of problem situations, etc.
– These courses have been held since 2013 under the auspices of the Ocean Institute, whose headquarters are located in Malta. They are organized for specialists from the countries of the Caspian region, but sometimes a Chinese delegation also comes. The purpose of these courses is to prepare people who will then pursue a policy in their countries based on the conservation of resources, environmental protection, the need to protect the legacy of generations both in the form of the Caspian Sea in this case, and in the form of the World Ocean in general," Yuri Olyunin said in an interview with ORIENT.
The course began with the presentation of reports on familiarization with the principles of ocean management - ocean management, then the seminar participants, divided into two groups, begin to prepare specific projects on the Caspian Sea. They will share their results on the final day of the course.
The range of issues covered by the seminar is extensive, and includes such topics as the concepts of sustainability in the management of human relations with the oceans and seas; multilateral diplomacy and rules of international negotiations, overcoming differences and conflict resolution; marine spatial planning; ocean health and the "blue" economy; environmental problems and opportunities of the Caspian seas, shipping, fishing and much more.
– One of the main objectives of the training is to establish links between the countries of the region, between their specialists dealing with the conservation of the Caspian resources, - said Yuri Olyunin.
According to the expert, the Caspian Sea is going through hard times now, which is also due to its shallowing. In some places on the coast, this already leads to catastrophic situations. Therefore, the governments of the Caspian countries are now paying great attention to training specialists in such areas of marine issues as resource protection, mining, marine pollution, etc.
And this course is designed to contribute to the formation of human resources in order not only to understand these problems and find solutions to them, but also to implement new approaches to the preservation of the Caspian Sea.
– Now in Turkmenistan, a large group of scientists is actively working in the fields of environmental protection, the use of Caspian resources, the economy of the sea, these are such areas as shipping, port facilities, an example of which is the construction of the port of Turkmenbashi, - said Yuri Olyunin, adding that in this respect Turkmenistan occupies one of the leading among the countries.
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