EU: new process could be conducive to facilitate joint solutions for frozen conflicts
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.
Ukraine assumed the BSEC presidency on November 1, 2007.
"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.
Ukraine assumed the BSEC presidency on November 1, 2007.
