Aral Sea Bank's restoration projects, especially in the North Aral, were giving rise to some unexpected, tentative relief in what had been an extremely pessimistic picture. The future of the Aral Sea and the responsibility for its survival are now in the hands of the five countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. In 1994, they adopted the Aral Sea Basin Programmme. The Programme's four objectives are: The first phase of the plan effectively began with the first involvement from the World Bank in 1992, and was in operation until 1997. It was ineffectual for a number of reasons, but mainly because
Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan border the border in 2000-2001 with an initial delimitation treaty being signed on 5 July 2001. The border was fully demarcated on the ground during the period 2003-2005. In 2013 a new cross-border railway was opened by Presidents Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan border The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan border is 413km (257m) in length and runs from the Caspian Sea to the tripoint with Uzbekistan. It is the shortest international boundary of both states. The land border starts at the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea at Cape Sue, just to the north of the Turkmen town of