Thursday 28th of March 2024, 19:47 CET
BSEC reasserts determination to strengthen security and stability in their region
June 26, 2002
Nine o'Clock Frontpage

Written by Gabriela Folcut
Posted by HW on March 28, 2024

The summit meeting in Istanbul of the heads of state of the member states making up the Black Sea Economic Co-operation Organisation (BSEC) on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the organisation has recorded a positive balance sheet marked by the signature of a Declaration. The 11 BSEC member states that signed the Istanbul Declaration have decided to strengthen security and stability in the Black sea area, to fight terrorism as well as to deepen BSEC’s collaboration with the European Union.

President Ion Iliescu, who headed the Romanian delegation attending the summit meeting, highlighted Romania’s wish “to widen the stability area in the Black Sea region”, adding that economic development in the Black Sea is dependent upon security. President Iliescu came up with an amendment to point 9 in the Declaration that suggests illegal migration as well as trafficking in illegal drugs, humans and arms should be added in the text where reference is made about organized crime.

President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin in his turn made an appeal to the BSEC countries that no sustainable development of relations among the members states is reachable as long as the conflict in Transnistria is not solved first. “A primary step forward toward the resolution of this conflict was taken by strengthening customs checking and withdrawing arms and ammunitions from this area,” said Voronin.

In the same context, Georgia’s President Eduard Shevarnadze voiced his support to the eradication of terrorism, given the conflict around Georgia.

As far as achievements are concerned, Iliescu stated that the 10 years of existence confirmed the validity of the initiative and positive developments in the relations among the 11 BSEC countries. At the same time, the Romanian Head of State highlighted Romania’s wish for these relations to be furthered in the fields of energy and transportation. He suggested that an assessment should be conducted of the Danube River’s becoming a trans-European navigable way in line with the requirements for co-operation in the Black Sea region.

President Iliescu argued that, despite the achievements in the ten years of existence of the BSEC being noteworthy, part of the agreed projects recorded “late starting” due to the incapability of ensuring significant capital inflows. ‘That was mainly due to the perceptions over the existing business milieu, legislative uncertainties as well as the intricate meanders of bureaucracy,” added Iliescu.

The presidency of BSEC is currently held by Albania up until October 2002. Romania held the same office for six months starting May 1, 2000. The volume of trade among the 11 BSEc member countries is standing at 300 bn US dollars a year, for a market of 330 million people.

The 11 signatory states of the 1992 Istanbul Convention are Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Attending the recent BSEC summit meeting were eight heads of state, while the remaining number of member countries were represented by their foreign ministers.

During his official visit to Istanbul, President Ion Iliescu had separate private meetings with Azerbaijan President Gaidar Alyiev as well as with Georgia’s President Eduard Shevarnadze. The meeting with Shevarnadze was held to pave the way for Iliescu’s visit to Georgia in the week to come.
 
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