BSEC LEADERS TO OPEN TALKS IN ISTANBUL

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
June 25 2007

Almost two months after taking over the rotating presidency of the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), Turkey is hosting a landmark
BSEC summit in Ýstanbul at which a number of issues concerning the
12 member countries, including energy, transportation, trade and
investment, organized crime, combating terrorism and environmental
degradation, will be discussed.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Greek Prime Minister Kostas
Karamanlis, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President
Victor Yushchenko and heads of states or Cabinet leaders from other
member countries Georgia, Bulgaria and Romania are among attendees of
the summit. Armenia, with which Turkey has no diplomatic relations and
which previously announced that it would not attend at the presidential
level, will be represented by Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. In
April, at a meeting of BSEC foreign ministers held in Belgrade, the
participants signed a memorandum of mutual understanding to launch
projects for the more than 2,000-kilometer-long Black Sea orbital
highway. The Ýstanbul summit is expected to offer an opportunity for
determining the cost of those projects.

Founded in 1992, the countries of BSEC have a combined population
of about 400 million, vast natural resources and developing ties
with the EU. The European Commission has recently applied to become
an observer member of the BSEC, which is, according to diplomatic
sources in Ankara, a strong sign of the EU’s willingness to improve
cooperation with the organization, which now has three joint members
with the bloc: Bulgaria, Greece and Romania. European Commission Vice
President Guenter Verheugen, a former enlargement commissioner widely
known by the Turkish public, is scheduled to attend the summit.

–Boundary_(ID_pAnvgibWxeXapFdQ+PZeuw)–