Moldovan foreign minister attends special session of BSEC Foreign Ministers Council in Istanbul

Chisinau, 22 May /MOLDPRES/- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Andrei Galbur attended a special session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), which was held in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey, the Foreign and European Integration Ministry's information and media relations service has reported.

The meeting precedes the BSEC 25th anniversary Summit, to be held in Istanbul on the next day.

At the meeting, held under the Chairmanship-in-Office of the Republic of Turkey, were exchanged opinions regarding the BSEC member states’ cooperation perspectives, the medium- and long-term priorities of the organization and its reforms’ progress.

Deputy Prime Minister AndreiGalbur stressed that the BSEC has a strong economic potential which should be explored more pragmatically and effectively, and, in this regard, Republic of Moldova will support all initiatives fostering regional cooperation in areas such as economy, energy, transport, environment as well as culture, education and tourism.

At the end of the meeting, Minister Andrei Galbur has underlined Republic of Moldova’ full support for continuing the process of BSEC’s reformation and expressed his appreciation to the Turkish Chairmanship for its excellent work in promoting the BSEC Agenda.

The Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) is a regional cooperation structure, the foundations of which were laid in 1992. At that time, the leaders of 11 states (Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Greece) signed the Bosphorus Declaration in Istanbul. The 11 states which signed the 1992 Declaration are founding states, and Serbia joined the Organization in 2001.