TURKEY HOSTS BLACK SEA SUMMIT FOR "NEW HORIZON"
The New Anatolian, Turkey
June 25 2007
Turkey is set to host a summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
(BSEC) today with the participation of heads of state and foreign
ministers from member countries.
The summit, which will be held under the banner, "Setting Sails for
New Horizons," is expected to give BSEC a new direction and momentum
under Turkey’s rotating chairmanship and celebrate the organization’s
15th anniversary.
The summit will gather 12 member countries and 13 observer countries
in addition to representatives from international organizations such
as the United Nations, European Union (EU), Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development, World Bank, the World Trade Organization.
The members of the group are the six Black Sea littoral states —
Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine — as well as
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Greece, Moldova and Serbia.
Host country Turkey, which currently chairs the group, says it
wants to give a new momentum to the organization and is calling
for increased efforts in the areas of transport, energy, trade,
environmental protection and combating organized crime.
One of the major objectives on the BSEC agenda is upgrading transport
infrastructure as a means of boosting trade and tourism, including
projects for a 7,500-kilometer (4,660-mile) ring road along the
Black Sea coast and regular maritime links between the ports of
member states.
Removing legal barriers to trade is another priority, with a special
meeting on the issue scheduled for September.
The group is also seeking to develop closer cooperation with the
European Union, and the vice president of the European Commission,
Guenter Verheugen, is expected to attend the summit in Istanbul.
The BSEC covers an area of nearly 20 million square kilometers (7.7
million square miles) with a population of some 350 million people.
Its member states have a total foreign trade capacity of about 300
billion dollars (223.5 billion Euros) annually.
The region is the second-largest source of oil and natural gas,
after the Persian Gulf region.
All member countries except Armenia are expected to be represented
by their presidents or prime ministers in Istanbul, Turkish officials
said.
Armenia, which has no diplomatic ties with Turkey, will be represented
by Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian.
The foreign ministers of member states will hold separate round of
talks this morning ahead of the summit meeting Turkish sources told The
New Anatolian that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul would hold
bilateral meetings with counterparts on the sidelines of the summit,
without ruling out the possibility of him meeting also with Oskanian.
Turkish and Armenian officials have held talks in the sidelines of
international gatherings in the past.
Turkey refuses to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, its
eastern neighbor, because of Yerevan’s campaign for the international
recognition of the alleged mass killings of Armenians under the
Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century as genocide.
In 1993, Turkey also shut its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with its close ally Azerbaijan, which was at war with
Armenia over Nogorno-Karabakh, dealing a heavy economic blow on the
impoverished nation.
The summit will begin at Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace and will be chaired
by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
The final declaration will be released at the end of the summit which
is expected to outline political directives that will shape the future
of BSEC and constitute a milestone in its history.