Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking at the 39th foreign ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in Baku, said that in the quarter-century of its existence, the BSEC developed as a popular regional venue.
At the same time, he noted that the situation in the Black Sea region has recently deteriorated.
The Russian Foreign Minister noted that the organisation's further success "will depend on how pragmatically we will be able to build up our cooperation". "Unfortunately, the situation in the Black Sea region degraded recently," he stressed.
"It is important to reverse this trend and work to turn the Black Sea region into a zone of peace, stability and prosperity," Lavrov added. "I am confident that the organization should not serve as a scene for political struggles, let alone score-setting," TASS cited him as saying.
The Russian foreign minister reiterated that the BSEC chiefly deals with economic issues, and the organization’s mandate should be respected. "It is the guarantee of the BSEC’s capability to support the development of integration ties," Lavrov concluded.
