Within the framework of the 31th General Assembly, held on 9-11 June 2008 in Athens and on the occasion of its fifteenth anniversary, the PABSEC organized the Meeting of the Presidents of Parliaments of the PABSEC Member Countries – the Parliamentary Summit “Achievements and Prospects of Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation in the Wider Black Sea Area”.

The meeting was hosted by Mr. Dimitrios Sioufas, PABSEC President, President of the Hellenic Parliament, and attended by Mr. Ogtay Asadov, Chairman of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Mr. Marian Lupu, Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova; Mr. Koksal Toptan, President of the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey; Mr. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; Mr. Corneliu VadimTudor, Vice-President of the Senate of Romania; Mr. Valeriy Yasev,  Vice-Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation; Mr. Edmond Spaho, Representative of the President of the Parliament of Albania; Mr. Gagik Minasyan, Representative of the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia; Mr. Petar Kanev, Representative of the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria and Mrs. Jorgovankia Tabakovic, Representative of the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

 Mr. Marek Siwiec, Vice President of the European Parliament, as well as other representatives of international parliamentary assemblies participated in the meeting.

The participants highlighted that ever since its establishment, PABSEC proved to be a reliable interparliamentary mechanism for enhancing cooperation among the member countries and their respective people, but in the future the Assembly should strengthen its efforts and on the basis of equal and mutually beneficial cooperation to solve the key problems of the sustainable development of the Black Sea region and to come up with new initiatives in the fields of economic, political and cultural cooperation.

The participants in the Summit adopted a Declaration on the Occasion of the 15th Anniversary of the Establishment of the PABSEC, stressing their commitment to extensively use the potential of the Assembly in cooperation with the parliaments of the BSEC Member States and to make concerted efforts to promote all-round growth of good-neighbourly relations  and mutually beneficial cooperation, thus contributing more meaningfully to ensuring peace, stability, prosperity and development of the states and peoples in the region. 

The Presidents and representatives of the Presidents of Parliaments had  a meeting with H.E. Mr. Karolos PAPOULIAS, President of the Hellenic Republic, at the Presidential Mansion in Athens.
 
At the conclusion of the Summit the participants adopted the Declaration on the Occasion of the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Establishment of the PABSEC