The first meeting of the intergovernmental commission on the declining level of the Caspian Sea will be held in Azerbaijan in the first half of 2027.

Axar.az reports that the decision was made at the Caspian Environmental Summit, attended by the leaders of the five Caspian littoral states: Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

The leaders agreed to establish the commission, which will include deputy heads of government from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, as well as senior officials from Iran and Russia.

Subsequent meetings will be held in the territories of the Caspian littoral states on a rotating basis, following the alphabetical order of their names in English.

The initiative to establish the commission or working and expert groups on the issue was put forward by the President of Azerbaijan.

On June 29, 2022, at the 6th Caspian Summit in Ashgabat, President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the rapid decline in the Caspian Sea’s level and its shallowing. He proposed establishing joint expert groups comprising specialists from the Caspian littoral states to study the causes of the environmental crisis and prevent its consequences.