The ferry delivered the minibus and two Patriot off-road vehicles produced at the Ulyanovsk automobile plant to the Turkmenbashi port from Astrakhan. The vehicles will strengthen the material and technical basis of the Khazar State Reserve.

The fleet of the vehicles of the Khazar State Reserve is renewed within the Project “Preservation and Sustainable Use of the Biological Diversity of Universal Value in the Khazar Reserve on the Caspian Sea Coast” implemented by the Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan in collaboration with the Global Ecological Fund and UN Development Programme. The large-scale ecological programme launched about a year ago is to promote the effective fulfillment of the tasks on protection of the unique natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

The project includes several components including enhancement of the research and personnel potential, the material and technical basis of the Khazar Reserve, study and introduction of the best international practices of preservation of biological diversity, design of the national model of integrated participatory management of natural resources. The vehicles were bought for the Kahzar Reserve in accordance with the project objectives. The UAZ vehicles will be used for inspecting and protecting the reserved areas and conducting the ornithological research. The minibus will be reequipped into a mobile laboratory.

The specialists of the Khazar State Reserve will receive motor boats, specialized field equipment, field glasses, night viewing devices, portable radio transmitters, telecommunications facilities, computers and office equipment within the framework of the project. A new cordon – base station including the laboratory, observation deck, berth, administrative building for monitoring biological diversity will be built nearby Kenar settlement.