LEADERS DISCUSS RELATIONS WITH EU, ENERGY AT BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION SUMMIT
AP Worldstream
Published: Jun 25, 2007
Leaders and officials from 12 Black Sea countries discussed closer
cooperation with the European Union and new energy routes through
their oil-rich region during a summit Monday in Istanbul.
The Black Sea Economic Cooperation organization, or BSEC, founded 15
years ago, is aiming to boost its energy sector, particularly as the
EU seeks to diversify its energy routes and supplies.
With combined oil and gas reserves second only to those of Persian
Gulf countries, BSEC members have launched several pipeline projects in
hopes of becoming an energy corridor for Caspian and Black sea energy
supplies to the West. The plans, however, face financial questions
and rivalry from Russia, which has assumed a central role in energy
supply to Europe.
"Securing energy resources is one of the main sources of development,"
said Russian President Vladimir Putin, who attended the summit. In
a closing statement, member countries said they would increase
coordination in the energy industry as well as cooperation with the
European Union.
This year’s summit was the first attended by a representative of
the European Union, in which three BSEC countries _ Greece, Romania
and Bulgaria _ are members. Others such as Turkey are negotiating
membership. Also attending were ministers and leaders from Turkey,
Greece, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria,
Georgia, Moldavia and Romania. The U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Ross
Wilson, came as an observer.
On Tuesday, BSEC energy ministers open a three-day energy conference.
"Common projects with the European Union and the reforms by the
organization are the two most significant successes of this summit,"
Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said, without giving details
of the reforms.
The EU is encouraging the BSEC members’ pipeline projects, as well
as a plan to build a highway around the Black Sea to connect member
nations and boost regional trade.
The 2,000-kilometer-long (1,240-mile-long) ring road project was
launched at a BSEC summit in April, but funding was yet to be
determined. It also was unclear when construction might begin.
Turkey, a founding BSEC member, has initiated several pipeline
projects to supply energy-hungry Western markets. Last year an oil
pipeline opened from Baku, Azerbaijan, through Georgia to Ceyhan,
Turkey’s Mediterranean oil hub.
Construction of another, to carry Kazakh and Russian oil from the Black
Sea coast to Ceyhan, started in April. That pipeline was expected to
open in 2009.
However, Turkey faces tough competition from Russia, which has
launched rival projects or studies for linking energy sources from
the Black Sea and Caspian Sea to the EU through Bulgaria, Serbia,
Macedonia and Hungary.
The EU imports more than 40 percent of its natural gas, almost half of
which comes from Russia. Some central and eastern European countries
depend almost entirely on Russian gas.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that the
"dialogue with the European Union is encouraging." Erdogan’s comment,
made at a closed-door meeting, was provided to journalists by BSEC
officials.
The EU in April launched the "Black Sea Synergy" initiative to promote
peace, energy projects and transportation, saying that since Romania
and Bulgaria became EU members in January, it has a bigger stake in
the region’s stability and prosperity.
Several BSEC countries are still struggling to overcome
disputes. Armenia and Azerbaijan were embroiled in a six-year conflict
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is inside Azerbaijan but
controlled by ethnic Armenian forces. Some 30,000 people were killed
before a 1994 cease-fire ended hostilities.
Turkey and Armenia also have no formal ties because of a dispute over
the World War I killings of ethnic Armenians in the last days of the
Ottoman Empire. Armenia calls the killings a genocide; Turkey says
they were a result of civil conflict.