BLACK SEA STATES AGREE ON STRENGTHENING REGIONAL TIES

Gulf Times, Qatar
June 6 2006

BUCHAREST: Leaders of states around the Black Sea committed during a
summit in Bucharest yesterday to work together on regional problems
such as organised crime, security, energy supplies and economic
development.

The nine states also called on the European Union to get more involved
in the region, where many countries are struggling to forge closer
ties with the West as they move away from Russia’s orbit.

“The Black Sea region now has a chance to become an attractive partner
for the main centres of economic power if it is capable of transforming
itself from a source of problems into a source of solutions for
Europe,” Romanian President Traian Basescu told the meeting.

But they made little progress in outlining an end to several
territorial disputes which stem from the messy dissolution of the
Soviet Union and cloud the prospects for stability in the region,
also known to be a major illegal trafficking area.

“We announce the launch of the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and
Partnership, a process that will serve as a regional platform … to
define a common vision of democratic and sustainable development,”
the countries said in a declaration, which was not signed by Russia.

“The Forum will provide a framework for generating new ideas …

encouraging regional co-operation in crisis management,” said the
nine states including EU candidates Romania and Bulgaria, as well as
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.

The EU, which is looking for alternative routes for energy supplies
throughout Asia, welcomed the agreement, urging regional leaders to
take action on organised crime and territorial conflicts.

“Our aim is to see a stable, democratic region here … to help
fight human trafficking, (the) transit of drugs, to prevent weapon
smuggling,” said Peter Semneby, EU special representative for Caucasus
and central Asia.

But presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, locked in a dispute over
the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, appeared to be no closer to resolving
the conflict.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan
but under the de facto control of ethnic Armenian separatists and
has been a scene of conflict in which about 35,000 people were killed.