‘Action plan’ to be submitted at BSEC

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

We hope the new action plan will be agreed by all members, Rende says. Hürriyet photo

An action plan to implement the new economic agenda of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) will be presented to the foreign ministers of BSEC countries during the ministerial meeting to be held in Istanbul on Dec. 15, where Turkey is to pass on its term presidency of the cooperation to Ukraine.

“The final aim of the BSEC is regional prosperity, so we hope that the new action plan will be agreed on by all the members of BSEC,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry General Director of the Multilateral Economic Affairs, Ambassador Mithat Rende, told journalists during a press briefing on Dec. 14.

Rende said in organizing three different ministerial-level meetings in transportation, domestic politics and the Treasury, Turkey had pursued a very active agenda during its presidency of the BSEC.

“We defended the idea that the main aim of the regional cooperation should be prosperity. Therefore we prepared the new economic agenda of BSEC in order to develop economic and trade relations of countries with each other,” he said.

“We organized bilingual meetings with Russia and Russians also place great importance on the BSEC,” said Rende, adding that Turkey had made extensive efforts to make BSEC a more active organization.

Even though there are frozen political conflicts among some members of the BSEC, economic cooperation is still continuing, he said, adding, “We believe that the development of trade relations will contribute a solution to the political conflicts in the region.”