A meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) was held in Rostov-on-Don on March 22-23. It was the first event held at such a level during Russia’s current presidency in the BSEC (January-June 2016).

Governor of the Rostov Region Vasily Golubev, Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Nebenzya, Secretary General of the BSEC Permanent International Secretariat Michael Christidis, official delegations of BSEC member-states, representatives of the BSEC Secretariat and experts participated in the meeting.

During the meeting, the participants stressed the significance of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation as an experienced sub-regional organisation established in 1999 and consisting of 12 member-states. The organisation includes the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly (PABSEC), the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB), the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) and the BSEC Business Council.

The CSO members discussed issues associated with raising the organisation’s efficiency, drawing up its budget and improving budget management, the effectiveness of sector dialogues and task groups, and several organisational issues.  They mentioned the importance of boosting the project vector in the context of BSEC activities, the need to promote efforts in investment, power supply, transport and other fields and the need to strictly follow the regulations of the organisation’s charter documents in the context of expanding activities in improving BSEC agencies’ performance.

The Russian party provided information on the formulation of proposals for a brainstorming session on the key issues of BSEC operations planned to be held during the CSO informal meeting in Sochi on April 19-20.

The results of Russia’s presidency in the BSEC will be summed up at the meeting of the BSEC Council of Foreign Ministers in Sochi on July 1.

March 28, 2016