President Serdar Berdimuhamedov said Wednesday at a regional environmental summit in Astana that Turkmenistan will host a high-level meeting on Caspian Sea environmental issues in early October.

According to official Turkmen media, Berdimuhamedov recalled that in August last year Turkmenistan hosted a meeting on Caspian Sea environmental issues at the level of deputy prime ministers of the littoral states, on the sidelines of the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries.

Following that meeting, Turkmenistan expects to move to a new stage of cooperation among Caspian countries on environmental protection and preservation of the sea’s unique ecosystem, the president said.

At the summit, Berdimuhamedov also proposed establishing a regional climate technology center and a regional center to combat desertification for Central Asian countries.