Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

"BSEC" redirects here. For other uses, see BSEC (disambiguation).
Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Formation 4 June 1992
Type Economic cooperation organization
Headquarters Istanbul, Turkey
Membership
Secretary General
Victor Tvircun
Website

The Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) is a regional international organization focusing on multilateral political and economic initiatives aimed at fostering cooperation, peace, stability and prosperity in the Black Sea region. It traces its origin to 25 June 1992, when leaders of eleven countries gathered in Istanbul and signed the Summit Declaration and the "Bosphorus Statement". BSEC Headquarters – the Permanent International Secretariat of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC PERMIS) – was established in March 1994, also in Istanbul.

With the entry into force of its Charter on 1 May 1999, BSEC acquired international legal identity and was transformed into a full-fledged regional economic organization: Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. With the accession of Serbia (then Serbia and Montenegro) in April 2004, the Organization’s Member States increased to twelve.[1]

An important aspect of the activities of BSEC is the development of SME and entrepreneurship in the member countries. Concerning these issues, a series of workshops have been organized in cooperation with Konrad Adenauer Foundation and ERENET.[2]

Membership

  BSEC member states
  BSEC observer states

Founding members:

Later members:

Black Sea Economic Cooperation (zoom)
  members
  observers

As seen above, membership has not been restricted to countries which have access to the Black Sea: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Greece, Moldova, and Serbia (connected with the Danube river corridors) do not have coastlines on the Black Sea. Macedonia's application was vetoed by Greece after Turkey vetoed the previous application of the Republic of Cyprus, prompting Greece to cease to approve future applications from any country.[3]

Observer nations:

Observer organizations:

Sectoral Dialogue Partner Countries:

Sectoral Dialogue Partner organizations:

Black Sea Trade and Development Bank

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution that was formed 24 January 1997.[4] It supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing trade and project financing, guarantees, and equity for development projects supporting both public and private enterprises in its member countries. Objectives of the bank include promoting regional trade links, cross country projects, foreign direct investment, supporting activities that contribute to sustainable development, with an emphasis on the generation of employment in the member countries, ensuring that each operation is economically and financially sound and contributes to the development of a market orientation.[5] The organization has an authorized capital of $1.325 billion.[6] The bank's headquarters are located in Thessaloniki, Greece.

BSTDB is governed by the Agreement Establishing Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, a United Nations registered treaty.[4] Unlike the International Monetary Fund and others, the BSTDB does not attach policy conditions by which debtor states can be controlled.[7] The Bank has a long term credit rating of 'A' from Moody's Investors Service and an 'A3' from Standard & Poor's, both with a stable outlook.[8]

See also

Notes

^ Joined as  Serbia and Montenegro in April 2004;[1] BSEC membership was inherited by Serbia after the country dissolved in 2006.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Permanent International Secretariat. "About BSEC". Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2009-05-29. With the accession of Serbia and Montenegro in April 2004, the Organization’s Member States increased to twelve.
  2. Antal Szabó (ed.), Emerging entrepreneurship and the policy development in the BSEC after the economic crises, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Ankara 2012, ISBN 978-975-7968-99-3
  3. Kurt, Suleyman (2006-06-11). "Montenegro Denied BSEC Membership Because of Turkish-Greek Rift". Zaman. Retrieved 2008-02-23. In retaliation to Turkey’s move to veto the application filed by the Greek Cypriot Administration, Greece opposed all BSEC membership applications in protest, including Montenegro’s.
  4. 1 2 http://www.bstdb.gr/keyfacts.htm
  5. http://www.eastagri.org/member_detail.asp?id=11
  6. http://www.bstdb.gr/bank.htm
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
  8. (PDF) http://www.bsec-organization.org/bsecnews/BlackSeaNews/Downloads/December2012No26.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia. "Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro: Article 60 - Breaking Away from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-02-23. Should Montenegro break away from the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, the international instruments pertaining to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, particularly UN SC Resolution 1244, would concern and apply in their entirety to Serbia as the successor.
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