Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

the primary responsibility of the UN Security Council for maintaining international peace
and security and accept the leading role of the OSCE in matters pertaining to security
and stability in wider Europe. The specific contribution of the BSEC is seen as
complementary to, and reinforcing of, the actions being undertaken in these fora.
The experience of the BSEC over the years has confirmed the close interrelation between
socio-economic development and the regional security situation. It is fair to say that,
while considerable progress has been made in many areas, the BSEC region is still
characterised by serious development gaps and income discrepancies within and between
individual countries, by serious disparities in the quality of infrastructure, maturity of
market-oriented legislative, regulatory and administrative mechanisms, speed and reliable
recourse to justice. Together with persistent serious cases of environmental degradation,
those factors may generate additional tensions both inside and between countries and
are therefore perceived as specific challenges to national and regional security and
stability. And conversely, any meaningful progress in coping with those challenges, at a
national and regional level, is likely to stabilise the security environment and to provide
additional incentives for continued reforms leading to healthy, sustainable growth and
better business and investment climate. The BSEC Economic Agenda for the Future (April
2001) acknowledged the fact that further progress of regional cooperation on trade and
development was organically linked to a renewed determination to promote, albeit on a
limited scale, an enhanced sense of stability through confidence-building and ‘soft’
security measures. 13
The OSCE Strategy to Address Threats to Security and Stability in the Twenty-first Century
and the Strategy Document for the Economic and Environmental Dimension adopted at
the Eleventh Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council (Maastricht, 2 December 2003)
also forcefully emphasised the linkage between the economic and the security dimensions
of regional cooperation and charted a coherent set of priority actions in response to the
challenges of steady and sustainable development in wider Europe. The BSEC can
contribute to the realisation of the objectives of the above-mentioned strategies through
its existing mechanisms.
As experience shows, regional cooperation within an institutional framework is an effective
way for the development of each participating state. Following the examples of other
regions, the countries of the Black Sea Region have to cooperate closer and have to
strengthen economic relations.
The future agenda and strategic goals of the BSEC have to be based on the principles
of cooperation and respect for each country’s interests. Economic success and progress,
fruitful cooperation between the participating countries will promote the creation of the
stable and peaceful environment in the whole region.
13 Text available on http://www.icbss.org.
64 UNFOLDING THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION VIEWS FROM THE REGION