On 14 November 2023, Turkmenistan agency of marine and river transport (Turkmendenizderyayollary) participated in the fifth online exercise “Caspian Sea ALPHA/BRAVO” on emergency response.
The exercise was organized by the Interim Secretariat of the Tehran Convention (TC) with the participation of the National Authorities of the Caspian countries within the framework of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea (Tehran Convention) and the Protocol Concerning Regional Preparedness, Response and Cooperation in Combating Oil Pollution Incidents (Aktau Protocol). These documents serve as the legal basis for regional cooperation to combat pollution of the marine environment as a result of accidents.
The exercises were conducted under the leadership of a representative of the responsible organization for the implementation of the Aktau Protocol in Turkmenistan, the head of the Seaport Captain’s Service of the State Shipping Supervision Administration under the agency “Turkmendenizderyayollary”, and the moderator was Mr. Mateusz Benko from the Temporary Secretariat of the TC.
The purpose of the exercise was to familiarize responsible personnel with the use of POLREP (pollution report) reporting templates, testing communication lines for reporting, requesting and providing assistance, as well as checking the readiness of the parties to respond to emergencies.
In accordance with the scenario of the exercises, Turkmenistan sent a report on the incident that caused oil pollution (POLREP), as well as a request for relief to official contacts of the Parties under the Aktau Protocol in English and Russian.
As a result, the Caspian littoral countries that received the POLREP promptly responded to the call for help.
The Aktau Protocol was adopted and signed at the third session of the Conference of the Parties to the Tehran Convention in Aktau, Kazakhstan, on 12 August 2011. This is the first protocol ratified by all Caspian littoral countries and entered into force on 25 July 2016. ///nCa, 28 November 2023