SPEECH BY H.E. MR. AL? BABACAN, ON THE OCCASION OF THE ...

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With the Istanbul Summit Declaration, our Heads of State and Government have given us guidance with regard to the future orientation and vision of BSEC. We will work together closely with a view to implementing the conclusions of the Summit. One of the most important conclusions of the Summit, in our view, concerns the redefinition of the focus and priorities of the BSEC in certain areas of cooperation where we can derive tangible results, such as environmental protection, trade, transport, tourism, energy, telecommunications, science and technology and all forms of organized crime. It is important that we adopt a sustainable working approach and develop effective operational capabilities with a view to achieving our targets in these priority areas of cooperation. We have respected these priorities throughout our Chairmanship. I believe that the Ministerial Meetings in the areas of Transport and Culture, and events such as “The Black Sea Oil and Gas Summit”, as well as “The 1 st Black Sea Ring Highway and the 4 th Silk Road Conference” have contributed to the implementation of some of the conclusions of the Istanbul Summit. In this vein, a Ministerial Meeting on Science and Technology will also be held in the coming days. In the area of energy cooperation, in addition to “The Black Sea Oil and Gas Summit” the “Ad Hoc Working Group on Cooperation Among BSEC Member States in the Exploration and Extraction of Hydrocarbon Resources of the Black Sea”, established by Turkey’s proposal, recently held its first meeting.
Distinguished Colleagues, One of the most important objectives we share is to transform the BSEC into a project-oriented organization. As the Chairmanship-in-Office, Turkey has submitted various project proposals pertaining to areas ranging from telecommunications to health and education. We cannot envisage a successful model of economic cooperation which does not take into account the environment. This is why one of the Turkish project proposals is related to the environment. On the other hand, our proposal for the city of Bursa to host a BSEC Trade Center is currently being discussed at the relevant Working Group. Within a couple of weeks, an event to promote this proposal will be organized by the local authorities in Bursa, with the participation of the members of the international media. It is our expectation that such Trade Centers will not be established exclusively in Turkey. The aim is to eventually set up similar Trade Centers in all BSEC Members States and to create sectoral networks among them, which will contribute to our common goal to develop our trade relations. In order to contribute to the facilitation of trade relations in the BSEC region, Turkey made a joint proposal with the BSEC Business Council to identify and eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade. We also held two meetings on visa matters related to businessmen and professional drivers. During the past five years, with a yearly average growth rate of 6.2%, our region has been one of the fastest growing in terms of GNP. The region’s total GNP is nearly USD 3.4 trillion. This figure constitutes 7.6% of the world
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SPEECH BY H.E. MR. AL? BABACAN, ON THE OCCASION OF THE ...

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