BSEC Foreign Ministers to meet in Baku in late October

A ninth meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member-countries of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation Organisation (BSEC) will take place in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku on October 31st. The Organisation involves Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Kalyuzhny will lead the Russian delegation to the meeting, the Russian foreign ministry's press and information department told RIA Novosti Tuesday.

The conferees will exchange opinions on ways to improve the Organisation's performance in line with the decisions of the BSEC summit in Istanbul in June 2002 and implement the BSEC Economic Agenda for the Future. They are also expected to discuss further steps to invigorate regional co-operation in different areas.

The ministers will discuss prospects for the development of trade, of small and medium enterprises, aid in dealing with the aftermaths of natural and man-caused calamities and the fight against organised crime.

The meeting will sum up two BSEC ministerial meetings that took place in 2003 on the agenda dominated by issues related to energy and transport co-operation and an international conference on tourism.