ORGANIZATION OF 25TH YEAR OF BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION IS HOSTED IN TURKEY

Black Sea Economic Cooperation Business Council Forum is attended by Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci, Ukranian Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Rasim Ljajic, Georgian Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Azerbaijan Deputy of Minister of Economy Niyazi Safarov, DEİK President Ömer Cihad Vardan and BSEC Business Council Term President Selçuk Akat on May 11, 2017 in Istanbul. 

Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci stated that he agreed with the outcomes of the "4th Meeting of Ministers of Economy of BSEC" which are to increase trade volume among Member Countries, to remove barriers to trade and to develop ways to increase eCommerce. "I believe that after 15 days of this leaders' summit, we will have concrete results. BSEC makes a total of 2,7 trillion US Dollars of GDP, 1,2 trillion US Dollars of export. As Turkey, we believe that we will contribute to trade volume and we are open to cooperation. We want to advance FTA with Georgia to the second phase. We were able to increase our export to Moldova by 56% in the first quarter of 2017 after the FTA was enacted. Moldova has increased its export by 83% in the same period. We are trying hard to remove trade barriers with Russia; we should never forget that every relation is based on interest. "Win-win" principle should be the motive of the partnerships. We should not forget that the stronger economic relations, lesser the political tension" said Minister Zeybekci.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Rasim Ljajic, stated that they are following the political and economic developments closely and that Region's countries should collaborate to enact international reforms. He drew attention to the fact that business people should have common sense and continued his words by "Political stability is very significant; otherwise, it is not possible to have regional cooperation. In some parts of the Region, the stability is damaged and we need to strengthen these parts. Stability and legal security need to be ensured. It is essential to remove customs barrier. It is essential to unite business communities."

DEİK President Ömer Cihad Vardan highlighted that Forum's 25th anniversary is held in Turkey and he continued "This year's synergy has special importance to us since we are here to discuss "The next 25 years of BSEC". We can only accomplish the change with the joint effort and commitment of Member Countries". He stated that necessary steps to improve the efficiency and operations were taken  and said: "We think that we are fulfilling our duty and taking the necessary steps, as a result, we are happy to do so."

BSEC Business Council Term President Selçuk Akat emphasized the change in the Statute of the Council and stated that this change will improve the representation capability and improve ability. "Corporates under the roof our Business Council will come together to develop new projects in the Region and will contribute to Region's development including transportation and energy" said Chairman Akat.