Greece will spare no effort for achieving BSEC’s goals

Antonis C. Samaras

At a time of major challenges, the BSEC should become the forum where the countries will set the path for initiatives leading to the goal of long-term sustainability.

The creation of the BSEC in 1992, linking together for the first time neighboring countries with a very different economic backgrounds and our larger region, was a pivotal act, showing a high degree of strategic foresight and economic realism; today, the wider BSEC region has achieved remarkable economic progress and plays a prominent role in the political, strategic and economic considerations globally.

The 20th Anniversary of the BSEC is an important moment for evaluating its achievements and building upon them in order for the organization to fully reach its potential. We should increase our efforts to give an added value to the numerous comparative advantages of the region, as provided for in the BSEC Economic Agenda for the Future recently adopted by the council in Belgrade, as well as in the Summit Declaration to be adopted in Istanbul. Our goal is to safeguard the strictly economic character of this organization and use it as a tool to further enhance regional economic cooperation.

At a time of major challenges, the BSEC should become the forum where the countries of the region, with the participation of other international actors, will set the path for initiatives leading to the goal of long-term sustainable development. It is very important to see the BSEC being decisively involved in these initiatives, using the added value of the organization’s related bodies and bringing its regional ownership and local expertise into the elaboration of concrete projects.

Greece, being both a founding BSEC member state and an EU member state, will spare no effort for the achievement of this goal; it has actively worked in this direction, devoting a considerable amount of resources in support of innovative initiatives, like the promotion of green energy investments in the Black Sea area, a project undertaken during the Hellenic BSEC chairmanship-in-office in 2010.

Greece hosts two BSEC related bodies, contributing thus to the organization with 15 million euros, in addition to the resources made available for the functioning of the BSEC Hellenic Development Fund. This contribution gives the measure of both our support to and expectations from this organization.
Moreover, Greece, along with Bulgaria and Romania, partners in both the EU and BSEC, coordinates various EU initiatives in the region, with the aim of promoting the dialogue and enhancing synergies in the wider Black Sea area, as the BSEC-EU cooperation of the “Black Sea Synergy.” The organization’s efficiency in the future will decisively depend upon effective coordination among the member states and the BSEC mechanisms; Greece is ready to provide all possible assistance in our common efforts.

Antonis C. Samaras is the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic.