Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

a visible part in the formulation and approval of the BSEC Economic Agenda for the
Future, setting the priorities and the main directions of the Organisation’s activities.
The 2002 Summit of the Organisation, held in Istanbul on the occasion of the BSEC
tenth anniversary, decided, following a Romanian suggestion, to request the Council
of Ministers of Foreign Affairs to develop policy proposals aimed at exploring ways and
means of enhancing the BSEC contribution to strengthening security and stability in
the Black Sea region. As a result, the Council assigned this task to the ICBSS which
established a Study Group of experts from member states and partner international
organisations for the elaboration of a Working Paper on the matter. This document,
which was worked out in the course of four brainstorming sessions of the Study Group,
was circulated as a Background Paper of the ICBSS on the basis of a decision of the
BSEC Committee of Senior Officials of 22 March 2005. Though this paper is not an
official BSEC document, it serves, along with the BSEC Economic Agenda for the Future,
as a valuable guide for the potential role of the Organisation in the consolidation of
security and stability in the Black Sea region.
Romania was also associated with other initiatives adding to the BSEC two new
dimensions: one is the establishment of the Black Sea Universities Network (BSUN)
which plays a significant role in developing common approaches, methodologies and
practices for universities in the countries of the region; the other is the initiative of the
Council of Europe, considered and endorsed at the International Conference on
Interregional Cooperation in the Black Sea Basin, held on 30 March 2006 in Constanta,
Romania, to set up by the end of 2007 a Black Sea Euroregion. The establishment of
such a Euroregion, no doubt, adds significant substance to the BSEC, since the latter
can only benefit from the involvement in the process of multilateral cooperation in the
Black Sea region of elected local and regional authorities from the area, that share the
same values of democracy, rule of law and human rights enshrined by the Council of
Europe, of which all BSEC countries are members.
The Romanian initiative to convene the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership,
held in Bucharest on 5 June 2006, was motivated by the same primary preoccupation
for promoting multilateral cooperation and a climate of friendly relations in the region.
The Forum was conceived as a summit meeting of nations of the area, with the participation
of other countries and also of international organisations that have shown interest in
supporting efforts to speed up economic development and enhance stability and security
in that part of Europe. The ideas and valuable suggestions put forward in the debate at
that meeting may be of considerable interest for the forthcoming BSEC Summit in
Istanbul when it charts the priorities and goals for the next stage of the Black Sea
multilateral cooperation.
104 UNFOLDING THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION VIEWS FROM THE REGION