TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER IN ARMENIA PLEADS FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION
Anadolu Agency
April 15 2009
Turkey
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Thursday Black Sea Economic
Cooperation (BSEC) was the backbone of regional stability and the
most practical mechanism in containing political risks and conflicts.
Delivering a speech at the 20th BSEC Foreign Ministers Council in
Armenian capital Yerevan, Babacan said with such perspective, Turkey
strongly supported BSEC.
Commenting on Turkey’s position regarding the global financial crisis,
Babacan said the dimensions of the crisis made regional and global
coordination all more important.
Babacan said enhancing the cooperation among BSEC members, which
gave way to concrete projects like ring and sea highways, would be
beneficial for all members.
Reiterating Turkey’s offer to host the Joint Technical Secretariat
of the Sea Highway Project, Babacan said Turkey, with its coasts in
both the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, was the most suitable
candidate.
Babacan urged the private sector and the businessmen to participate
more actively in activities of BSEC, noting that visa practices set
an obstacle in the way of interaction between private sectors of
different countries.
He said Turkey favoured a closer relation between BSEC and the EU.
Babacan later separately met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad Guliev.