At the Council of Heads of State-founders of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) in Astana, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov underscored the strategic necessity of addressing the region's environmental challenges. He stated that amid current global geopolitical complexities, the critical environmental issues of Central Asia must remain a top priority. The preservation of the Aral Basin and the well-being of its coastal populations represent a profound political and moral responsibility for all regional governments.

The Turkmen leader advocated for an integrated strategy where Aral Sea issues are inextricably linked with concerns over glacier melting, desertification, and the management of transboundary water resources. As a logical step in this regional cooperation, it was announced that a Regional Center for Climate Change Technologies under the UN will soon begin operations in Ashgabat. This facility is expected to provide essential technological support to foster social and economic prosperity alongside environmental security in Central Asia.

To elevate international collaboration, Turkmenistan proposed the drafting of a new UN General Assembly Resolution focused on the partnership between the UN and IFAS. This initiative aims to reflect contemporary geopolitical and economic shifts in global environmental governance. The President recalled Turkmenistan’s proactive chairmanship of IFAS from 2017 to 2019, which led to significant UN resolutions and the development of the fourth phase of the Action Program to assist countries in the Aral Sea basin.

The Aral Sea crisis, triggered in the 1960s by the excessive diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, led to the establishment of IFAS in 1993 by the five Central Asian states. Today, the Fund remains the primary mechanism for financing environmental and socio-economic projects aimed at ecological restoration. The collective efforts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan continue to be the only viable path toward mitigating one of the most severe ecological disasters of the modern era.