First meeting of the calendar of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office

Tsvetan Simeonov opened the first meeting of the calendar of events of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Business Council. Bulgaria holds the Chairmanship-in-Office of the organization for the period 1 January – 30 June 2019. “The potential for development of cooperation in the region is great. We hope that the European institutions will be more interested in the Black Sea region and that there will be opportunities for joint projects and development of all possible perspectives” , Simeonov said.

The President of BCCI presented the priorities of the BSEC Business Council: blue economy, connectivity /transport, energy, infrastructure, culture, wine and traditions/, digitalization. He emphasized the business events laid down in the programme of the Chairmanship-in-Office.

The Ambassador of Romania to Bulgaria H.E. Mr. Ion Galea, the Ambassador of Georgia H.E. Mrs. Tamuna Liluashvili, representatives of the embassies of the BSEC countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Greece, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine; Mrs. Tonka Kostadinova, Third Secretary at “Southeastern Europe” Directorate of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Teimuraz Antelava, Legal Advisor at the Permanent International Secretariat of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC PERMIS) in Istanbul took part in the event.

Tonka Kostadinova presented the priorities of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office of the organization. Under the motto “Sea of Opportunities”, the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office of BSEC will strive to give new impetus to the multilateral economic cooperation in the Black Sea region and will seek to further enhance the effectiveness of BSEC through emphasizing the project-oriented cooperation. She pointed out that during the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office our country will work to deepen the cooperation between the BSEC member countries in all spheres of mutual interest. Emphasize will be placed on several priority axes, including: transport - development of road and maritime infrastructure in the Black Sea region; culture – joint initiatives and local projects; and environmental protection - cooperation between BSEC and the EU in the framework of the Integrated Maritime Policy. As one of the three EU member states in the Black Sea region, Bulgaria will continue its efforts to further develop the productive interaction between BSCE and EU.

The Calendar of events of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office was presented with emphasis on a number of high-level events in different areas of cooperation: the upcoming meeting of the Ministers in charge of culture of the BSEC member states in May in Plovdiv; informal meeting of the Ministers of Transport during an international events in Leipzig, Germany in May, and a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC member states and the EU in June.