BLACK SEA SUMMIT OPEN IN ROMANIAN CAPITAL; SMUGGLING ROUTES, ENERGY, POLLUTION ON AGENDA
Alison Mutler
AP Worldstream
Jun 05, 2006
Leaders of Black Sea countries met on Monday for a summit aimed at
combatting the region’s drug- and people-smuggling networks, finding
ways of tackling pollution and discussing alternative energy routes.
The Black Sea region faces “new threats caused by criminality and
terrorism, and insecurity caused by the security of energy (supplies),
and we are called to manage this and improve it,” Romanian President
Traian Basescu said. “We know our problems …
they are problems inherited from a difficult past, but there is the
real potential for development.”
The main topics on the summit’s agenda would be environment protection,
regional cooperation, joint energy projects, combatting cross-border
crime and improving infrastructure.
“Putting the Black Sea on the map is a challenge in itself,” Romanian
Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu said in opening the summit.
Among those attending were Presidents Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine,
Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia, Robert Kocharian of Armenia, Vladimir
Voronin of Moldova and Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan, as well as officials
from Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece and Lithuania.
Top officials from NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe, the United Nations and the Council of Europe were also
attending the summit.
Russia declined to send a high-level official to the summit, but
requested observer status. In his speech, Basescu called on Russia
to take part in the region’s future development.
“Romania considers that a regional cooperation process cannot take
place without Russia,” he said, pointing to the “rich social, political
and economic resources,” that Russia has. Russia was represented at
the summit by its ambassador to Romania, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Corina Vintan said.
J.D. Crouch II, the U.S. deputy national security adviser, praised
the Black Sea initiative, and said that Washington would contribute
to a public-private partnership called the Black Sea Trust, which
will fund programs to strengthen cross-border cooperation, democratic
governance and the rule of law.
“The American people understand that secure borders in the Black Sea
region enhance their own security, because they impede the global
trade in weapons, dangerous technologies and human beings.”
Kocharian and Aliev were expected to discuss the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh on the sidelines of the summit. Talks between the two
leaders in France in February ended in failure, despite international
mediators’ efforts to push the leaders to resolve the enclave’s status.
Aliev’s spokesman, Novruz Mammadov, told Azerbaijani state television
OTV Sunday that a settlement for Nagorno-Karabakh could only occur
“within the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and
according to the norms of international law,” something he said
Armenia did not agree with. He added that talks were difficult, but
“there are hopes that certain steps forward will be taken.”
Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan but populated mostly by ethnic
Armenians, who have run it since an uneasy 1994 cease-fire ended six
years of full-scale war. Sporadic border clashes have grown more
frequent since the breakdown of talks. The lack of resolution has
hindered development throughout the strategic region.
On Sunday, Basescu met separately with Kocharian and Aliev to discuss
ways to reach a settlement for Nagorno-Karabakh, Basescu’s office
said in a statement.
Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia directly border
the Black Sea, which is one of the world’s most polluted seas.
Its only outlet is via Turkey’s Bosphorus Straits.