On April 16, the 20th meeting of the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the member-states of Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation was held in Yerevan under the Chairmanship of Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian. Delegations of 12 member-states, 9 observers, as well as representatives of partner countries, the BSEC structural institutions and international organizations also attended the meeting.

The agenda of the meeting included wide range of issues concerning the deepening of economic cooperation between the countries of the Black Sea region, the improvement of the efficiency of the organization, the strengthening and enhancement of cooperation of member-states within bilateral and multilateral formats, the promotion of EU-BSEC partnership, as well as the joint efforts aimed at the reduction of the consequences of global financial crisis.

In his opening remarks, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian summarized the results of the activities of Armenian six-month Chairmanship-in-Office. Minister Nalbandian expressed hope that this meeting will provide wider opportunities for practical steps aimed at the promotion of cooperation between member-states, enhancement of multilateral cooperation in the area of economy within the region, as well as on the international arena, improvement of the efficiency of Organization’s activity.
Armenian Foreign Minister mentioned that during the Armenian Chairmanship-in-Office of the BSEC more than 50 events were held – Ministerial meetings, conferences, seminars and sessions of the working groups.

Edward Nalbandian stressed that the Armenian Chairmanship highly appreciates the results reached through active partnership in the areas of transport, energy, science and technologies, small and medium entrepreneurship, health, tourism, education and culture.

Minister Nalbandian also mentioned that among the priorities of Chairmanship-in-office, Armenia focused on the enhancement of cooperation between the BSEC and international organizations.
In their speeches, heads of the delegations of the BSEC member-states and BSEC Secretary General highly appreciated Armenia’s activity as a Chairman-in-Office of the organization and mentioned that the BSEC’s activity in in that period was has been active and effective.

During the Ministerial session, Iran and Jordan became sectorial dialogue partners of BSEC.   

At the end of Ministerial Council the ceremony of handover of BSEC Chairmanship by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Quliyev took place, which was followed by joint press conference of Foreign Minister of Armenia, Deputy Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Albania BSEC Secretary General.

To listen to the entire press conference, click here.