ROMANIA TO HOST BLACK SEA SUMMIT TO COMBAT PROBLEMS IN THE REGION

AP Worldstream
May 25, 2006

Romania is to host a Black Sea summit next month aimed at tackling
drug- and people-smuggling in the region and finding ways to clean up
pollution in the sea, as well as discussing alternative energy routes,
the foreign minister said.

Mihai Razvan Ungureanu said that the June 5 summit was “a rare occasion
for Black Sea leaders to meet and discuss the most acute problems
of the region which experts will then be translated into projects,”
he told foreign journalists in Bucharest late Wednesday.

He said he hoped that leaders would find “political consensus” to
dealing with the region’s problems.

After Romania and Bulgaria join the European Union _ which they hope
to do in 2007 _ the Black Sea will form the EU’s eastern border and
will take on extra significance for the bloc, Ungureanu said.

“How can the region prosper? How can trust in the region grow?” said
Ungureanu, adding he hoped that Russia would send a high-level official
to the Bucharest summit. Russia has not yet announced who will attend
the meeting.

One of the more sensitive issues to be discussed at the summit will
be the “alternative energy routes which connect the Caspian Sea,
Iran, Iraq through Russia or through the Black Sea to Europe,”
said Ungureanu.

A brief disruption in Russian gas supplies to Western Europe early this
year amid a price dispute with Ukraine tarnished Russia’s reputation
as a reliable supplier and encouraged the EU to intensify a search
for alternative supply routes.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Moldovan President Vladimir
Voronin, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Armenian
President Robert Kocharian are among the heads of state who have
already confirmed they will attend the one-day summit in Bucharest
which will be followed by a day of workshops for regional experts.

Ungureanu said the main topics on the summit’s agenda would be
environment protection, regional cooperation, joint energy projects,
combatting cross-border crime and improving infrastructure. NATO,
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the
Council of Europe will also attend the summit.

Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia directly border
the Black Sea, which is one of the world’s most polluted seas.

Its only outlet to outside seas is via the Bosphorus Straits.