Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Bulgaria takes over BSEC chairmanship from Armenia

02 January 2014 16:05 (UTC +04:00)

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Christian Vigenin said that the main priorities during the country’s presidency would be expansion of cooperation between the BSEC and various international and regional organizations, implementation of joint projects on energy, transport, tourism and environment.

Vigenin added that Bulgaria would also act to develop the relations between the BSEC and European Union.

Azerbaijan skipped its term for the BSEC Chairmanship-in-Office. Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev explained to APA the reason of this decision: “Azerbaijan will preside over several structures next year, including the Council of Europe. We are currently presiding over the Economic Cooperation Organization and Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States. Thus, we offered the BSEC Secretariat that we can take over the presidency in January 2015. However, they did not want to change the order of alphabet, so Azerbaijan will preside in its next term.”

BSEC was established on June 5, 1992. Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine are the member countries of the BSEC. Azerbaijan presided over BSEC in the second half of 2009.