Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I welcome you wholeheartedly to Armenia on the happy occasion of this Eighth Meeting of the BSEC Council of Foreign Ministers.

As Armenia prepares to hand over the Chairmanship of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, we can all look back to what continues to be a steady path of growth and increased effectiveness. 

The past inspires optimism in the future of our organization. BSEC is already perceived as a viable mechanism for cooperative efforts towards sustainable economic development around the Black Sea. What started out as a group with much good will but limited practical levers has now evolved into a serious organization. 

The establishment of the BSEC Project Development Fund represents the strong determination of member states to move seriously towards implementation of joint economic projects and programs.  

During our term in office, we continued to build on recent achievements by implementing BSEC's collective strategy Հ our Economic Agenda. Through close cooperation with all member states, as well as with the Secretariat and Related Bodies, we achieved many of the goals we had set out six months ago. 

Working group meetings have been held in the fields of banking and finance, energy and emergency assistance and combating organized crime. Here in Yerevan last month, we held the first BSEC workshop on strengthening statesղ capacities in international relations. At that conference, we embarked on a new field of cooperation for BSEC Հ institutional renewal and improvement of governance. These constitute a difficult challenge for most BSEC countries given the tough, often tumultuous transitions that our region has seen during the last century. 
As a result, building on both our specific and similar experiences in strengthening and modifying our institutions to fit the demands of today's world and tomorrow's societies can only help in the task of fair, just, good, effective governance. This in turn strengthens our hand in international relations and enhances opportunities to secure optimal cooperation in the form of experiential and financial investment and input into our region. 

We have already made progress in our relations with various international organizations including the European Union and the United Nations system, and to that effect we welcome the presence of UN Undersecretary Sergei Ordzhonikidze here with us at this meeting. 
During its Chairmanship, Armenia has maintained continuous contact and exchange of views with the EU Hellenic Presidency and with the European Commission. As a result, upgrading existing BSEC-EU relations was discussed substantively with the European Commission for the first time at BSEC headquarters during a Coordination Meeting of the Chairmanship-in-Office and Related Bodies. The Meeting provided the European Commission with detailed information on recent developments in the Black Sea cooperative process.

The adoption of the resolution on UN-BSEC cooperation at the 57th session of the United Nations General Assembly further enhanced BSEC's role in the international arena. The International Center for Black Sea Studies, too, has become a great resource for all of us. The ICBSS proposal on organizing a meeting of the President of the World Bank with the BSEC Troika and heads of the organization's institutions during the Conference of the World Bank parliamentary network is a promising initiative, and it should be pursued. As should the project on ՁInstitutional Strengthening to Facilitate Intra- and Inter- Regional Agricultural Trade of the BSEC Member Statesձ which has been initiated in cooperation with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. 

In an entirely different direction, and in implementation of a mandate by the BSEC Heads of State, a group of experts charged with exploring ways of bolstering security and stability in the Black Sea region has conducted its first meeting. 

These are all positive and promising developments. With the invaluable cooperation of the Member States, the BSEC Secretariat, especially Ambassador Valery Chechelashvili, huge strides can continue to be made in the months and years to come. 

There can be no avoiding the reality that one of the chief challenges facing us all individually and collectively will be the new developments in the Middle East. The quickly changing situation in and around Iraq is a source of concern, consternation and hope. It is obvious that we are anxious over the potential long-term instability that such a conflict augurs. Peace in the Middle East is not a clichŽ. It is an essential prerequisite for peace in the world. 
The roadmap to peace, if drawn wisely, will be a roadmap to a peaceful coexistence not just for Israelis and Palestinians, but for all those living in that biblical region, which neighbors ours. 
Therefore, the repercussions and echoes of transformations in the Middle East are felt by all of us. Our reaction must be to enhance that which we all have in common, those principles and values which we all hold dear, those ideals which our peoples expect us to protect and preserve. 

In what is becoming a makeover of the world order, begun on September 11, the ancient civilizations and peoples of the Black Sea region must demonstrate the depth and wisdom to acknowledge that events have histories, that political relations have causes and consequences. We would wish that in our region Հ full of both ancient and modern complications, we would all look to finding solutions which promote inclusiveness and diminish hostilities.

Thus, I am pleased that at this Eighth Ministerial, we are witnessing two significant and memorable events. One is the historic moment when this organization, founded 11 years ago by 11 member states, is enlarging its membership and expanding its area of coverage. 
We welcome the decision to include Serbia-Montenegro and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and note that with their presence among us, we turn into a truly inclusive regional body ready to take on new obligations and responsibilities. We recognize also that these obligations include the necessity to act more efficiently as an organization, less driven by political differences, and more directed towards economic teamwork as a means of cooperation. Our vision for a free trade zone, for effective and mutually beneficial economic gains, will only be realized through the political will to sidestep the elements that divide us and strengthen the substance that we have in common. 

Here in Yerevan, at this eighth BSEC ministerial, Armenia welcomes the Azerbaijani chairmanship of BSEC. This is the second event which is symbolic of the true potential of this organization -- to act as an international umbrella under which we can accomplish that which is necessary to develop prosperous societies able to transcend differences and build on common aspirations and shared prospects. 

The painful gap that currently exists between the prospects and the dreams of so many of our peoples can be overcome if we reduce the dispensable gaps among our governments and officials. We have joined around the Black Sea with a vision that is built on a future that can be shared. May an expanded, strengthened, matured BSEC take us there.