The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) will be held on 28 May 2010 in Sofia

The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) will be held on 28 May 2010 in Sofia. The meeting will be hosted by the Republic of Bulgaria. His Excellency Mr. Nickolay MLADENOV, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, will chair the meeting in his capacity as the Chairman-in-Office of the Organization.

The representatives of the BSEC Member States[1], as well as Related Bodies[2], BSEC Observers[3], Sectoral Dialogue Partners[4] and other guests are expected to participate in and deliver statements at the meeting.

In the working session of the meeting, the Ministers will exchange views on issues of common concern to the region and examine various measures to further improve the efficiency and effectiveness of BSEC.

Some of the items on the agenda of the upcoming meeting in Sofia are related to the consideration of various draft legal documents on enhancing cooperation with some of the partner states and organizations. The use of the BSEC Project Development Fund for projects of regional impact, the appointment of Country-Coordinators for some of the BSEC Working Groups, review of the state of cooperation among the Member States and the status of implementation of BSEC Council Resolutions, Decisions and Recommendations are also on the agenda of the meeting. In Sofia, the BSEC Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs is also expected to address developments in BSEC-EU interaction and to consider the applications for the renewal of Observer status and the granting and renewal of Sectoral Dialogue Partnership status to various countries and organizations.

At the conclusion of the meeting, there will be a ceremony whereby Bulgaria will hand over the Chairmanship-in-Office of BSEC to Greece. The Hellenic Republic will officially assume the Chairmanship as of 1 June 2010, for a period of seven months until 31 December 2010.

As is known, BSEC was launched as a regionally owned initiative on 25 June 1992 at the Istanbul Summit, at a time when regional cooperation was most needed in the transformation process that the countries of the region were undergoing. The idea that stronger economic cooperation among the Black Sea countries would enhance peace and stability in the region was the underlying philosophy behind BSEC.

In 1998, BSEC was officially transformed from an initiative into a regional cooperation organization with the adoption of the BSEC Charter in Yalta.

Today, BSEC serves as a forum for cooperation in a wide range of areas and a platform for political dialogue for its 12 Member States. The BSEC countries which differ from each other in terms of their level of development, size and population encompass an area of approximately 20 million square kilometers with 330 million people. Transport, energy, trade, economic development, communications, education, culture, tourism, science, technology, healthcare, good governance, customs services, exploration and extraction of hydrocarbon resources and fight against organized crime are among the most active fields of cooperation within the framework of the Organization.

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For further information: Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation