The Twenty-First Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC Member States was held in Baku on 22 October 2009. The Meeting was chaired by Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and  attended by all the BSEC Member States, Observer States, representatives of international organisations and the BSEC Related Bodies.

The PABSEC was represented by Mr. Alexander Dzasokhov, Chairman of the Commission on Culture of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Member of the Russian PABSEC Delegation, and Mr. Alexander Furman, PABSEC Deputy Secretary General. 

Mr. Alexander Dzasokhov presented a Greeting Message from Mr. Boris Gryzlov, PABSEC President, Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. In his message, the PABSEC President noted in particular that today the BSEC Member States have advanced from a general conceptual discussion framework towards tackling the practical ways to implement multilateral cooperation projects, which meet the genuine needs of the Black Sea countries and the imperatives of our time. He underlined that the Parliamentary Assembly has an important role to play in the development of the BSEC Organization, pointing out that decisions adopted by the parliamentarians make a real contribution to the rapprochement among the peoples of the region.

Addressing the Meeting, Mr. Dzasokhov also informed the participants about the current and forthcoming activities of the Assembly stressing that the PABSEC attaches utmost importance to intensive interaction with the BSEC. In this context, he welcomed the progress achieved in the implementation of the document on “Modalities for enhancing Coordination and Cooperation between BSEC and PABSEC”, which was adopted by the Nineteenth Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC Member States in Tirana in October 2008. He also expressed support to a closer correlation of the agendas of BSEC and PABSEC with a view to achieving synergy between the BSEC intergovernmental and inter-parliamentary structures.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the PABSEC delegation had brief talks with Ms. Rumiana Jeleva, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria and the next BSEC Chairperson-in-Office, informing her about the activities of the PABSEC and the forthcoming General Assembly in Moscow. Ms. Jeleva expressed her interest in attending the General Assembly in Moscow, taking into consideration her working schedule.

PABSEC-BSEC interaction – The Ministers adopted the following text with regard to the PABSEC activities:“The Council took note of the following PABSEC documents adopted by the 33rd  Plenary Session of the PABSEC General Assembly held in Bucharest on 11-13 June 2009:

- Recommendation 107/2009 on “Development of the Sea Transport in the BSEC Member States: problems and prospects”;

- Recommendation 108/2009 on “Migration in BSEC Member States: Legal Aspects”;

- Recommendation 109/2009 on “Migration in the BSEC Member States – Social and Cultural Aspects”;

- Recommendation 110/2009 on “The need to protect children from commercial exploitation in the BSEC Member States”.

The texts of the Recommendations are appended as Attachment.

The Council highly appreciated the activities of PABSEC, noting with satisfaction the progress achieved in the implementation of the “Modalities for Enhancing Coordination and Cooperation between BSEC and PABSEC” adopted by the Nineteenth Meeting of the Council of Ministers in Tirana on 23 October 2008.

The Council underlined the need for a closer correlation of the agendas of BSEC and PABSEC with a view to achieving synergy between the BSEC intergovernmental and inter-parliamentary structures and enhancing legislative support to the BSEC projects.”

Improving BSEC Chairmanships – The Council decided to move towards a two-per-year Chairmanship sequence – one starting in January and one in July. It was also agreed that in 2010 the incoming Chairmanship will start on 1 June and will end on 31 December.

At the end of the Meeting, Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov handed over the BSEC Chairmanship-in-Office for the next period to Ms. Rumiana Jeleva, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria. It was decided that the next regular Meeting of the Council will be held in Sofia in May 2010.