A hybrid meeting was held at the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan to discuss the preparation of the nomination file for "Karsts, Canyons, and Caves of Kugitang" for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a transboundary site.

Representatives of the Michael Succow Foundation for Nature Conservation, Conservation X Labs, the Slovak Speleological Society, Humboldt University of Berlin, the National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change of Uzbekistan, the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, the Secretariat of the National Commission of Turkmenistan for UNESCO, and the National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna took part in the discussion.

Participants reviewed the current status of the Roadmap for the site nomination and the results of field expeditions conducted in the spring of 2026 in the Koytendag Nature Reserve in Turkmenistan and the Surkhan Nature Reserve in Uzbekistan. International experts presented photographs of dinosaur footprints discovered in other countries inscribed on the World Heritage List and compared them with those found in Turkmenistan. Photographic evidence from caves in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, potentially of interest for international recognition, was also on display.

Particular attention was paid to the preparation of the Preliminary Assessment request—a stage that includes defining the boundaries of the site, identifying its key features and attributes, analyzing the main threats, issues of site management, as well as the procedure for coordinating and submitting documents to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

The Tentative List was submitted to the World Heritage Committee by Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in September 2025. According to the updated Operational Guidelines of the Convention, Member States must undergo a Preliminary Assessment before submitting a full nomination package. After receiving a positive opinion from experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the parties will be able to proceed to the final preparation and submission of the full-text dossier.

National experts will continue their work with international consultants from the M. Zukkov Foundation and Uzbek specialists, taking into account the new requirements of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.