On May 22, a jubilee Summit dedicated to the establishment of the Organisation of Black Sea Economic Cooperation /BSEC/ took place in Istanbul. The Summit was preceded by the special meeting of the BSEC Council of Foreign Ministers and the extraordinary session of the Committee of Senior Officials. The Summit, which was opened by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey, was attended by the Presidents of Greece, Moldova, Prime Minister of Russia, Deputy Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and Deputy Foreign Ministers of a number of countries.

Ashot Hovakimian, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia, was heading the delegation of the Republic of Armenia at the Summit and the meeting of Foreign Ministers and delivered speeches.

In his speech at the Summit Deputy Foreign Minister touched upon the work carried out in the framework of the Organisation throughout last 25 years, attaching importance to the need of developing and strengthening the economic component of the Organisation. He emphasized that the regional economic cooperation, the full implementation of economic projects put forward in the multilateral and bilateral formats is impeded by the existence of closed borders, and that the regional economic projects should include all member states without any discrimination.

Touching upon the accusations against Armenia made by Ogtay Asadov, the Chairman of the Parliament of Azerbaijan, Ashot Hovakimian noted that the representative of Azerbaijan yet again attempted to use the BSEC format to present the distorted picture of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “We believe that this Summit is not the place and the BSEC is not the format to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. By doing so, the Azerbaijani side showed its disrespect to BSEC Charter, to the principles and goals of the Organisation and to this Summit”, said Hovakimian.

In the context of the efforts exerted by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs directed at the elimination of consequences of the continuing militaristic policy of Azerbaijan and in particular, the 2016 April aggression, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia informed the participants on the steps undertaken by Azerbaijan to undermine those efforts. “Accusations, belligerent stance and unilateral maximalist demands cannot resolve the conflict. Progress in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution is achievable once Azerbaijan abandons its policy of using force and engages in good faith in negotiations within the agreed format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs”, emphasized Ashot Hovakimian.

The Summit adopted the BSEC jubilee declaration, in which the economic essence of the Organisation was once again reconfirmed.