Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
- BSEC members
- BSEC members with observer status
The Black Sea Economic Cooperation, the BSEC (English Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, BSEC) is a regional economic organization with legal status. It was founded on 25 June 1992 on Turkish initiative in Istanbul. Its membership includes the six countries bordering the Black Sea and six other states. The BSEC encloses a population of approximately 300 million and an area of about 20 million square kilometers. In the first half of 2012, Serbia has the presidency of the organization.
Organs of the BSEC are:
- Council of Foreign Ministers
- Permanent International Secretariat ( PERMIS ), with headquarters in Istanbul
- Parliamentary Assembly ( PABSEC )
- Economic Council ( BSEC BC )
- Trade and Development Bank ( Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, BSTDB )
- International Black Sea Studies Centre ( ICBSS )
The Black Sea Economic Cooperation will promote peace, stability and prosperity in the region through economic cooperation. Tariffs and non-tariff barriers between the Member States should be reduced, the border formalities to be harmonized. The States undertake to promote investment and joint banking and financial organizations with the aim of a regional securities exchange. They also want to work in the fields of environment, transport, energy and telecommunications, science, technology and agriculture. Even in matters of internal security, combating terrorism and organized crime, want to cooperate, members of the BSEC.
Over the years, it turned out that the interests of the Member States were very heterogeneous. The efficiency of economic cooperation was found more often in question within the organization. Criticized the lack of concrete goals, priorities and long-term projects, the lack of own funds and the failure of the project to attract large-scale projects for the region. Important objectives and adopted resolutions had not been sufficiently implemented, it said. Also lacked in the Member States of coordination and control, whether the administrative burden for the greater.
1998 was developed as part of the network of BSEC Black Sea Universities.
At its meeting in Istanbul in 2001, the BSEC adopted therefore an agenda (BSEC Economic Agenda for the Future: Towards a more Consolidated, effective and viable BSEC partnership), which deals with how the cooperation consolidated, can be made more efficient and viable.
Was opened in 2004 in the Bulgarian port city of Burgas, the Black Sea Border Coordination and Information Centre. The Centre collects information on illegal activities in the Black Sea region and promotes the exchange of information between coast guards of the neighboring states.
In 2007, she became the focus of the new European Neighbourhood Policy in the East and the Black Sea Synergy.
Another focus of the activities after the financial crisis of 2009 is to promote entrepreneurship and in particular reporting on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the region. To this end, there is a collaboration with Erenet, under which workshops are conducted regularly.