Dear colleagues,
Dear Secretary General
Ladies and gentlemen,

When Armenia assumed the Chairmanship of BSEC six month ago, we announced that we would contribute to its activities to enhance the economic cooperation in the Black Sea region, increase the Organization’s efficiency and its visibility in the international arena.

Under Armenia’s Chairmanship nearly 70 events took place, a number of initiatives were put forward to implement the provisions of “BSEC Economic Agenda: Towards an Enhanced Partnership” and the “BSEC Public Communication Strategy”. In the capacity of coordinator of Working Group on Information and Communication Technologies we drew our special attention to the promotion of cooperation in the IT sector.

During this period declarations on the enhancement of cooperation on tourism and education were adopted, the steps on modernization of the agendas of BSEC, the development of the cooperation with BSEC Observer and Sectoral dialogue partners were taken as well as the reforms of the Secretariat were implemented.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Chairmanship in the BSEC for the next 6 month was transferred to Bulgaria. I would like to congratulate my Bulgarian colleague on that occasion and assure that the Bulgarian Chairmanship can rely on our contribution in the implementation of its projects.

Thank you!

News.am: There were reports in Turkish Media that in the context of Armenian-Turkish relations, Davutoglu is going to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in Yerevan?

Edward Nalbandian: The position of Armenia and the international community is clear – the normalization of Armenian- Turkish relations should be without any preconditions, therefore attempts of the Turkish side to link it with other issues or put preconditions are senseless and in vain.

Arminfo: The Turkish Foreign Minister arrived in Yerevan for the BSEC Ministerial meeting. Will you have a meeting with him, if yes, what will be discussed?

Edward Nalbandian: There will be meetings with the heads of participating delegations, including the Turkish Foreign Minister. As of the discussions topics, we will talk about it after the meeting.