The Caspian Economic Forum (CEF; Turkmen: ''Hazar Ykdysady Forumy'';

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...

: ''Каспийский экономический форум'') is an international economic event aiming to provide a platform for discussion of the issues relating to the creation of conditions for large investment projects for littoral Caspian states. First Forum was held in

Avaza Awaza (or Avaza) refers to both a tourist zone in and a borough (district headed by a presidentially appointed mayor) of the city of Türkmenbaşy, Turkmenistan. It is located on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, 12 km west of downtown ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

. The key purpose of the Forum is to help to overcome the geographical and informational barriers for investments in the Caspian region.

Formation and Framework

At the V Summit of the Heads of the Caspian Littoral States in

Aktau Aktau ( kk, Aqtau, Ақтау , russian: Актау) is a city in Kazakhstan, located on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. Its current name means "white mountain" in Kazakh, which may be due to its cliffs that overlook the Caspian. From 1964 to ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekis ...

in 2018, President of Turkmenistan,

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow (born 29 June 1957), also known as Arkadag (Cyrillic: Аркадаг, "protector"), is a Turkmen politician who served as the second president of Turkmenistan from 2006 to 2022. A dentist by profes ...

initiated to hold the First Caspian Economic Forum in 2019. It was held on the anniversary of an agreement on the legal status of the Caspian Sea on Aug. 12 in Turkmenistan's tourist zone of Awaza. The forum ostensibly aims to improve trade and investment among the states, particularly in relation to Caspian Sea projects. The Caspian Sea is estimated to contain some 50 billion barrels of oil and nine trillion cubic meters of gas. Properly exploited, those resources could be worth trillions of dollars. The Second Caspian Economic Forum will be held in

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the C ...

city of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

References

{{reflist Economic events International relations