The Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC)

General

The BSEC-Black Sea Economic Cooperation was initiated in 1992 as an informal intergovernmental meeting on Black Sea Economic Cooperation and was converted into an international economic organization on 1 May 1999, with the coming into force of its Charter signed in June 1998 in Yalta. The BSEC has its headquarters in Istanbul and is composed of twelve member states (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldavia, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey and the Ukraine). Eleven of the current 12 member states were founding members. The enlargement of the Organization was decided upon in the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC member states (BSEC Summit, Yerevan - 18 April 2003), with the inclusion of Serbia and Montenegro as well as FYROM. The State Union of Serbia-Montenegro acceded to the Organization on 14 April 2004. Today, only Serbia takes part in the BSEC as the successor to the abovementioned state union. With regard to FYROM, the Organization sent an invitation for accession to FYROM, in implementation of what was agreed upon at the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC member states, under its UN-recognised name, but this invitation has not been met with a response to date.

The following countries and international organisations have been granted observer status: Austria, Belarus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Tunisia, the US, as well as the (non-governmental) International Black Sea Club, the Energy Charter Secretariat and the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution.

The BSECs work is based on procedural rules providing for decision-making with specific types of majority, depending on the subject, although the general view is that efforts are made for BSEC decisions to be taken unanimously. The Organizations working structure is flexible and includes:

i) The Intergovernmental component, coordinated under a rotating six-month Chairmanship (undertaken by the member states in alphabetical order) and including both ordinary and extraordinary Councils of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC member states, meetings of the Committee of Senior Officials, as well as meetings of its Working Groups and Ad Hoc Groups of Experts. The seat of the Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS) is in Instanbul. On 1 May 2006, Greek Ambassador Mr. Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos assumed the post of Secretary General of the BSEC Permanent International Secretariat; he was elected, through consensus by the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC member states (Bucharest, 26/4/2006).

ii) The Interparliamentary component, coordinated under a rotating six-month Chairmanship (undertaken by the member states in alphabetical order) with the following bodies as its basic organs: the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly (PABSEC), the Standing Committee, the Bureau, and individual parliamentary committees. The seat of the International Secretariat of the PABSEC is in Istanbul.

iii) The Business component, which through the BSEC Business Council reflects the importance attributed by the Organization to improving the business environment and extending cooperation across the Black Sea region. The seat of the Secretariat of the PABSEC Business Council is in Istanbul.

iv) The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, which is the Organizations funding mechanism, is based in Thessaloniki.

v) The International Center for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS), headquartered in Athens, whose establishment was spearheaded by our country. It is acknowledged as the Organizations de facto think-tank and covers cooperation between scientific and academic communities of the BSEC member states, and its promotion through other similar foundations and organisations.

The Project Development Fund is another valuable tool for developing regional economic cooperation, providing funding opportunities for member state public and private agencies entrusted with carrying out preliminary feasibility studies for development projects. This Fund operates within the framework of the BSEC International Secretariat.

Intergovernmental cooperation within the BSEC focuses principally on the fields of energy, transport, communications, trade and economic development, banking and finance, institutional renewal and good governance, combating organised crime, environmental protection, agriculture, cooperation in healthcare issues, emergency assistance, research and development, education, tourism, culture, facilitating the transport of goods and customs procedures, exchange of statistical data and the promotion of SMEs.

Greece is the top financing contributor of the BSEC. The Council of BSEC Foreign Ministers (Kyiv, 17/4/2008) decided to set up the BSEC Hellenic Development Fund with a capital of 2 million for four years (20082011) aimed at supporting small development projects in the broader region of the Black Sea mainly in the areas of transport, renewable sources of energy, environment, business cooperation, facilitation of trade, tourism and culture.

Relations between the BSEC and the European Union:

Following many decades of efforts spearheaded by our country, the European Commission issued on 11.04.2007 the Communication Black Sea Synergy A New Regional Cooperation Initiative [COM(2007)160 final], which forms the basis for a future EU-BSEC cooperation.      The granting of observer status to the European Union is another important step in favour of further cooperation between the two organisations. The strengthening of the institutional relationship between the two organisations was substantially bolstered with the Council of BSEC and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Kyiv, 14/2/2008) on the implementation of the abovementioned initiative on EU-Black Sea regional cooperation. At the end of the meeting, the Foreign Ministers issued a joint communiqu expressing their will to promote closer cooperation between their countries on a number of priority areas such as developing transport and energy infrastructure, environmental protection through the creation of sectoral partnerships, whilst recognising the BSECs important role. Furthermore, the previous special council of BSEC Foreign Ministers (Kyiv, 14/2/2008) adopted a Statement of Foreign Ministers of BSEC Member-States on a reinforced BSEC-EU relationship.

Relations between the BSEC and other organisations

The Organization has been developing contractual relations with the OECD (on the implementation of the Black Sea and Central Asia Outlook, which is funded jointly by Greece, Romania, and Turkey), as well as with other regional organisations and initiatives such as the Organization for Security in Europe (OSCE), the International Organization for Migration, the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe, Caucasus, Asia), and others. It should be noted that our country as the only country to be a member state of both the BSEC and the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) - made sure the Organization was officially recognized as a recipient of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from DAC. In this way, it paved the way for the Organization to receive funds from international donors-DAC members.

 

Last modified: June 2008