Meeting of BSEC Foreign Ministers to be held in Moscow

The fifteenth Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Black See Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) will be held on November 1, 2006, in Moscow. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI), the Moldovan delegation will be headed by Valeriu Ostalep, MFAEI vice minister. BSEC Foreign Ministers will meet in Moscow to assess the BSEC’s achievements during the period of the Russian Presidency, to discuss cooperation methods with the European Union, and to establish primary fields of the multilateral cooperation. It is planned to sign the statement of the Foreign ministers of the BSEC member states. At the same time, during the meeting, the BSEC observer status of Poland will be renewed. The creation of a cooperation structure in the Black See zone was proposed for the first time in 1990, by former president of Turkey, Turgut Ozal, during his official visit to Romania. Romania, Bulgaria and USSR joined the initiative. On June 25, 1992, eleven heads of state and government signed in Istanbul the Summit Declaration and the Bosphorus Statement giving birth to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. With the entry into force of its Charter on 1 May 1999, BSEC acquired international legal identity and was transformed into a full-fledged regional economic organization – the Organization of the Black See Economic Cooperation. BSEC was granted the status of observer to the UN as of October 8, 1999.