INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

After the end of the division of Europe, the sectors of transportation, communications and energy take an ever more increasing role, since the ambitious goals of the transition countries will be met only if their infrastructure will allow the flourishing of economic relations with the countries of their periphery and of all Europe at large.

Taking into account the vital role of transport in ensuring sustainable development in the Black Sea area, and in the light of the activities and projects undertaken by the BSEC in the field of transportation, PABSEC has placed a special emphasis on a large-scale infra-structural and institutional rehabilitation of transport system in the BSEC region and the development of appropriate links to the Trans-European and Pan-European Networks, as well as to the Central Asian countries.

Within this context, the Assembly adopted recommendations on: Cooperation in Transportation among the BSEC Participating States (rec. 13/1996), Transport Technology and Integration in Europe (rec. 29/1998), and the Legal and Political Aspects of the Transport Systems Integration Process in the Black Sea Region (rec. 40/1999), Development of Transport Infrastructure in the Black Sea Region (rec. 84/2005).

Recognizing the importance of services of public utilities to economic competitiveness, social solidarity and quality of life in the Black Sea region, the PABSEC adopted a recommendation (rec. 39/1999) on this subject, that calls for working out projects for modernizing and developing the infrastructure of public utilities and finding needed funds to implement them.

Given the fact that developed and modern communications are a precondition for the successful implementation of regional projects, PABSEC adopted a recommendation on Development of Communications in the Black Sea Region (rec. 45/2000) calling on the parliaments and governments of the BSEC member countries to elaborate a common strategy for the development of communications in the region taking into consideration the priorities and concerns of each member state, the provisions of the BSEC Action Plan for the Development of Communications and the rapidly developing global trends in this field.

Being aware of the complex relationship between the expanding new technologies and the emerging information society, the Assembly also adopted recommendations on Information Society: the Role of New Technologies (rec. 66/2002), and on Black Sea Informational Alliance (rec.71/2003), the parliamentarians emphasizing the growing importance of the information society created by the rapidly developing information and communication technologies, and the need for the establishment of a regulatory framework defining the development of the information society, as well as the ethics and codes of use of the technology and the means to protect them.