In June 2007 Turkey is expected to host a Summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in connection with the 15th anniversary of the organization. Mahmud Mamadguliyev, the Azerbaijan Deputy Foreign Minister informed Trend that by that time it is necessary to develop a package of proposals on injection of changes into the Constitution of the Organization.
Mammadguliyev said that at the last meeting in Moscow, Azerbaijan side came out with an initiative on the establishment of a special expert commission to develop these changes into the BSEC Charter so that to submit them to the consideration of the heads of states at the summit.
The consultations with other countries will begin in January-February 2007. It is necessary to inject slight changes in the BSEC Constitution, he said.
According to Mr. Mammadguliyev, there is no considerable progress on the improvement of the structure of BSEC, whereas its consideration can be regarded as progress. In the initial period it was not so hailed. However, as a result of our insistent position other countries also joined us and our initiative was backed, Mammadguliyev said.
They propose to develop the organization through lifting obstacles and gaps in the Charter of the BSEC‚ resolution of procedure issues‚ which impede the development of the organization. Azerbaijan proposed to raise an issue on the role of secretariat of BSEC, particularly‚ the role of Secretary General, status of senior ranking officials and send them many issues for resolution, but not leave for the consideration of the Foreign Ministers. Moreover, the consensus should be restricted because sometimes it leads to impediments (BSEC Secretary General was elected for two years, which is also linked with definite procedure issues).
In 2007 Serbia will continue holding chairmanship office at the BSEC and the Foreign minister will hold a meeting in Belgrade.