Erdogan urges more cooperation among Black Sea states

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas and Dilara Zengin

ISTANBUL (AA) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has highlighted the need to enhance the role of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation in boosting the economic welfare of the people living in the region.

The Black Sea Economic Cooperation was formed on June 25, 1992, as a multilateral political and economic initiative aimed at peace, stability and prosperity in the region. It has 12 members, including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Speaking at a ceremony in Istanbul to mark the 25th anniversary of the organization on Monday, Erdogan focused on the need for further cooperation among member states.

"We all together need to do more than we currently do for the Black Sea, which always gives us more than what it takes from us," he said.

"We may have political and even major problems among us. However, we should make sure that we keep our organization away from those problems, only then we will be able to work efficiently and, in fact, we should do even more," he said.

The president said the most important accomplishment of the organization was in bringing people and countries of the region together to meet their most pressing challenges.

"As member states, we may have different languages, cultures, political stances or economic levels. But at the end of the day, we have a common denominator that is the Black Sea, which brings us all together…," he said.

Erdogan underlined the need for the organization to be used as an instrument to solve problems by avoiding unfruitful political discussions.

He said workers in different parts of the Black Sea face common problems.

"The workers, who are working at the ports of Odessa, Novorossiysk, Varna, Constanta, Batumi, have common problems which are almost the same as those in Samsun, Trabzon and Zonguldak ports in Turkey," he said.

"If the tea producers in Rize of Turkey have a good season, likewise on the other side of the coast the tea producers in Sochi of Russia enjoy the same thing."

Erdogan called on all member countries to follow a shared objective of rendering the region as a geography of peace, stability and welfare.

"It is up to us, the member states, to make efforts to reinforce our cooperation under this umbrella. Here in Anatolia, we have a saying: a neighbor needs even the ash of another neighbor," he said.

He said the current trade and investment volume among member states had not met its potential yet.

"We need to work more on projects that will make a difference in the daily lives of our people such as The Black Sea Ring Highway project -- Turkey completed its part in that project 10 years ago," he said.

"If other countries complete similar projects then we will have an established transportation network that can bring our people together around the Black Sea," he added.

The president also spoke about steps taken by Turkey to remove visa barriers in recent years, and urged for more measures to promote visa-free travel.

Anadolu Agency is the official photographer at the event.

- Call for closer ties

In his remarks at the day-long ceremony, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim also called for further cooperation among member states of the organization.

Yildirim focused on the importance of fostering economic cooperation and commercial ties and bringing the people of the region closer.

"The population of the Black Sea basin is 350 million. The region is getting stronger, its economy is growing," he said.

"The total gross domestic product of member states has reached $2.7 trillion today while it was $658 billion in 1992."

About the tourism potential, Yildirim said visa-free facility with some member countries and an improved infrastructure had played an important role in the development of the region.

He said the number of Turkish tourists who visited member states was 3.5 million last year while 10.5 million tourists came to Turkey from these countries.

Yildirim added that economic cooperation meant more trade, investment, employment and good ties.

"There might be political problems among our countries from time to time. These are temporary problems that we should not get stuck in. Close cooperation should continue," he added.