The Black Sea Economic Cooperation includes European Union state Greece, while members Bulgaria and Romania will join the bloc next May under the Serbian presidency of the regional group. Serbia’s foreign minister also plans to establish closer organizational ties with observer state Germany as it assumes the rotating EU presidency

The Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) should increase its profile in the international community and especially with the European Union, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic said in Istanbul on Wednesday, Turkish Daily News reported.

Draskovic made the comments while paying a courtesy call on BSEC Secretary-General Ambassador Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos at the organization's headquarters on the Bosporus. Serbia holds the rotating six-month chairmanship of BSEC, to which Turkey will succeed next May, just in time to host the organization's 15th anniversary celebration in June.

The Serbian foreign minister later met with six ambassadors of BSEC members before attending a dinner hosted in his honor by the BSEC leader. Draskovic's comments echoed those he made in Moscow at the beginning of November when Serbia took over the chairmanship from Russia.

“Proceeding from the fact that two BSEC countries, Bulgaria and Romania, will join the European Union during the Serbian chairmanship and the decisions of the BSEC Foreign Ministers from Comotini and Chişinau, as well as the activities of Greece, and, in all likelihood, the similar post-accession activities of the two other future EU member states in respect of BSEC-EU interaction, Serbia will promote BSEC's cooperation with appropriate EU institutions and spearhead the efforts to coordinate and strengthen the organization's relations with those institutions,” said Draskovic.

A clear definition of priorities and a concerted approach should also include the EU member states that have the status of BSEC observer countries, he said. For its part, Serbia would seek to establish appropriate contacts with Germany during its presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2007.

The BSEC since 1992 has united the littoral states of the Black Sea and other interested countries in common efforts to improve trade, communication and transport links among member states. Members include Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. The number of member states increased to 12 upon the accession of Serbia and Montenegro in April 2004.

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