PanARMENIAN.Net
EU: new process could be conducive to facilitate joint
solutions for frozen conflicts
15.02.2008 12:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Union will annually assign 1.7 billion
euros for the Black Sea Synergy, Commissioner for External Relations
and European Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner told a
briefing in Kyev on February 14.
`With Bulgaria and Romania joining the EU just over one year ago, the
EU is no longer an external actor in this region. Now we are
irrevocably part of the region, with our future security and
prosperity intimately bound up in its fortunes. It was a consciousness
of our new presence on the shores of the Black Sea and our dual sense
of responsibility and reliance which prompted us to propose the new
co-operation we together launch today,’ she said.
`Black Sea Synergy is designed to attract political attention to Black
Sea region and provide new opportunities through increased cooperation
with the EU. It also provides opportunities for increased cooperation
with Turkey and Russia. We believe Black Sea Synergy can achieve
results particularly in five key areas: energy, good governance,
transport, environment, migration and the fight against cross-border
crime. I am personally committed to exploring all the potential
provided by Black Sea Synergy, and I am convinced that this new
process could also be conducive to facilitate joint solutions for the
frozen conflicts around this region,’ she said, IA Regnum reports.
On 25 June 1992, the heads of state and government of eleven
countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece,
Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine signed in Istanbul the
Summit Declaration and the Bosphorus Statement giving birth to the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).
BSEC covers a geography encompassing the territories of the Black Sea
littoral States, the Balkans and the Caucasus with an area of nearly
20 million square kilometers. The BSEC region is located on two
continents.
BSEC represents a region of some 350 million people with a foreign
trade capacity of over USD 300 billion annually.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress