Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian’s visit to Tirana          

  On October 23, the 19th Ministerial Council of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation took place in Tirana.
The agenda of the Ministerial Council includes the issues concerning the deepening of economic cooperation between the countries of Black Sea region, promotion of BSEC-EU interaction, improvement of efficiency of the organization.

In his speech Edward Nalbandian recalling the activity of the organization and mentioned that in spite of the success of the organization, BSEC needs to be reformed to improve its efficiency and member states of the organization should undertake joint efforts in that direction.
Presenting the priorities of Armenian Chairmanship-in-Office in BSEC, Minister Nalbandian outlined following directions:
Enhancement of the mutually advantageous cooperation between BSEC and the international actors, Improvement of the efficiency and credibility of BSEC, Enhancement of cooperation in energy sector, Development of the regional transport and communication infrastructure, Cooperation on environmental issues.
In the course of the Ministerial meeting two agreements were signed on “Simplification of Visa Procedures in the BSEC States for the Truck Drivers, Member-States’ Citizens of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation” and “Simplification of Visa Procedures in the BSEC States for the Businessmen, Member-States’ Citizens of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation”.
At the end of Ministerial Council the ceremony of handover of BSEC Chairmanship by Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha to Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian took place, which was followed by joint press conference of two Foreign Ministers and Leonidas Krizantopulos, BSEC Secretary-General.
Armenia will chair the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation till the end of April, 2009.