Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

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sectors of the BSEC member states and raising the Black Sea region’s role in
European and international economic affairs.
The Project Development Fund (PDF) was created by the Organisation to facilitate
the realisation of concrete regional economic projects through financing their
feasibility studies. The PDF is active and has financed important projects in various
fields of cooperation. Furthermore close interaction of the PDF with the Black Sea
Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) will give a strong impetus for the attraction
of financial resources from European and other financial institutions in terms of
putting various projects into operation. 2
The BSEC Coordination Centre for the Exchange of Statistical Data and Economic
Information residing in Ankara undertakes efforts for the collection, coordination and
distribution of statistics and economic information. The Centre has issued several
publications on trade relations among the BSEC countries. Such information is
necessary for a better understanding of the economic situation in the Region.
Increasingly many states have become interested in what takes places in the Black Sea
regional context, which is reflected notably in the rising demands for observer status in
the BSEC. Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, United States
of America, Slovakia, Belarus, Croatia, Egypt, Israel and Tunisia are all observers in the
organisation. Observer Status has also been granted to some regional institutions, such
as the International Black Sea Club, the Energy Charter Secretariat, or the Commission
on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution.
Sectoral Dialogue Partnership status has been also granted to a number of professional
associations: the Black Sea International Shipowners Association (BISNA), the Black and
Azov Seas Ports Association (BASPA), the Union of Road Transport Association in the
BSEC Region (BSEC-URTA), the Black Sea Region Association of Shipbuilders and
Shiprepairers (BRASS), the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications
(RCC), and the International Network for SMEs (INSME).
The Organisation has achieved significant consensus among its member states regarding
its core regional agenda. In this respect the BSEC Economic Agenda for the Future,
adopted in 2001 represented a comprehensive document defining the main priority
spheres of cooperation. 3 On the success side of the BSEC, we should include the
following multilateral Agreements which have been signed within the BSEC framework:
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Agreement among the Governments of the BSEC Participating States on Cooperation
in Combating Crime, in Particular in its Organised Forms (Kerkyra, 2 October 1998);
2 For a list of ongoing or completed projects, see http://www.bsec-organization.org/admin/Nurdan% 1March07.pdf.
3 BSEC Economic Agenda for the Future, BSEC PERMIS and ICBSS, Istanbul, 2001. Text available on
http://www.bsec-organization.org.
X E N O P H O N P A P E R no 2 57