Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

Low regional cooperation isolating Armenia
Such realities in the region - precisely, those constants that still hamper cooperation,
on the one hand, and the political agenda of Armenia’s newly formed government in
1998, on the other - further influenced Armenia’s role in the BSEC and, in general, the
importance Armenia placed on that organisation. This was true when, despite its slow
formation process, the BSEC transformed in 1999 from a project-developing to a projectimplementing
organisation. Meanwhile, the strategic importance of the region - including
the Caucasus - grew for the West, and the EU’s role and involvement likewise increased.
Parallel to these factors, the other issue which had an impact on Armenia’s overall
involvement within the framework of the BSEC was the fact that in EU-BSEC interaction
projects - proposed by the BSEC and complying with the EU’s regional interests -
disproportionate importance was placed on cooperation, policy fields, and sectoral
objectives stipulated by the fundamental documents in which synergy was to be attained
with the EU. 7 Those spheres that were of vital importance for European expansion, those
in which it had carried out numerous projects since the early 1990s, were specifically
emphasised. These spheres included the development of infrastructure (including
transport, energy, and telecommunications), commercial and economic activities (including
cross-border cooperation and, especially, trade facilitation and the creation of favourable
conditions for investments, environmental protection and sustainable development),
cooperation in combating organised crime and providing emergency assistance, in
institutional and social sectors, and in the domain of science and technology. While the
BSEC sought synergy with the EU in the aforesaid domains, it unexpectedly experienced
a hierarchy of sectoral objectives which in practice excluded Armenia.
In the sphere of transport, the EU developed and supported a number of multilateral
infrastructure programs for a wider Eurasia that centred on the Black Sea. As a
consequence of the unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan, Armenia lost the chance to
become a part of the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA). The project
was launched in 1993 to connect the eight former Soviet republics. Across and around
the Black Sea, the EU pursued the objective of developing transport alternatives between
the East and the West, seeking out international investments to that end. It is worth
mentioning that regional transport routes and infrastructure became an increased area
of focus for the EU in 1997 when, following the European Conference of Transport
Ministers, the Black Sea region was selected as one of four Pan-European Transport
Areas. In the meantime, Armenia - as the Armenia-Georgia link - joined TRACECA.
7 BSEC (2007), ‘BSEC-EU Interaction: The BSEC Approach’, Istanbul, 17 January.
18 UNFOLDING THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION VIEWS FROM THE REGION