Pre-War Archive

From BSNews editorial staff: On February 20, 2013 the People's Deputy of Ukraine from one of the Crimean districts Olena Netetska headed the delegation of our country to the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly, and at the 41st General Assembly of the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly in Sophia on July 9 – 11, 2013 she was elected as the Deputy Chairman of the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly. BSNews has asked Ms. Netetska to share her thoughts and plans in the article for our edition.

Informall Business Group, specially for BSNews. In first half of 2013 Black Sea container terminals of Romania, Ukraine, Georgia and Bulgaria handled 1 275 356 TEU, including empties, but transshipment is not included. In this review all data is related to laden containers and general amount was 876 194 TEU. In result general growth in the region for laden containers for the first half of 2013 was 7,33%, comparing to the same period of 2012.

Andrei KLIMENKO, BlackSeaNews We have decided to offer our readers the August 2013 cruise program. In this case, a lot of words are of no need – everything is quite clear at once:). As always, we will be glad if our well-informed readers submit any additional information and updates to this very schedule in their comments

Andrei KLIMENKO, Vladimir TROFIMOV (photos), BSNews. Spanish and Turkish frigates, taking part in NATO and Bulgarian Navy exercises Breeze 2013, conducted in Varna on July 6-15, 2013 at the same time with Odessa Sea Breeze, arrived to Odessa on Saturday, July 20, 2013, between 15.00 and 16.00. Both vessels are the basis of the 2nd NATO permanent navy Mediterranean group (SNMG-2)

Vladimir YEVSEYEV, director of the Center for Public Policy Research, Moscow, specially for BSNews. However, in mid-May, the Mediterranean force saw its status upgraded to being directly subordinate to the General Staff of the Russian Navy. On June 1, the formation, consisting of 16 warships, plus auxiliary vessels and three helicopters, commenced military duty under the command of the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleev.

Informall Business Group, specially for BSNews. Last years container market of Georgia had the most rapid growth among other countries of the Black Sea and still has a space for further growth. Existing volumes of Georgian container market have significantly increased during last 5 years. In 2007 Georgian container market was only 8,8% of the Black Sea market but according to Informall forecasts in 2013 it shall be already 14,6%. Volumes increased from almost 200k TEU in 2008 to 357k TEU in 2012.

Tatiana GUCHAKOVA, Mihail ROZENSHTEJN (photo), BSNews. The Meeting of the Ministers in charge of Economy of the BSEC Member States was held in Yalta, Ukraine, on 23 May 2013, under the Chairmanship-in-Office of Ukraine. The representatives of the Member States discussed and adopted a joint declaration. In the said document titled the “Joint Declaration of the Ministers Participating in the Meeting of the Ministers in charge of Economy of the BSEC Member States,” the Ministers declared their willingness to join efforts for the optimization of the economic, social, infrastructural, natural, scientific and technical potential for the creation of favorable conditions for integration in the Black Sea region.

Eugene KOGAN, The Center for International and European Studies (CIES), Istanbul. The two unresolved conflicts in the South Caucasus hang over Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia like the Sword of Damocles. As seen from every view point, Russia’s influence, levers and policy toward conflicts resolution remain the key issues. As long as Moscow maintains a status quo policy and keeps the outside actors at arm’s length from the region, the unresolved conflicts will continue to fester.

Andrei KLIMENKO, BlackSeaNews We have decided to offer our readers the May 2013 cruise program in 3 versions: chronology, cruise ship and ports of call wise. In this case, a lot of words are of no need – everything is quite clear at once:). As always, we will be glad if our well-informed readers submit any additional information and updates to this very schedule in their comments

Andrei KLIMENKO, Alexey SOLOVIEV, Tatiana GUCHAKOVA, BSNews. On March 8, 2013, being on visit to Istanbul on our "Black Sea" issues regarding our interaction with BSEC, we managed to interview Mr. Mehmet Baspinar, Vice President on “our region” in the head office of Turkish Airlines. We realized, that to make it into the head office of the largest airlines of the world is predeterminedly anything but simple. But ... Well, all told, just read.

Mitat CELIKPALA, Associate Professor at Kadir Has University, Istanbul. Energy competition in the Black Sea region, which was not in the spotlight in the post-2008 Russia- Georgia war period and was under the influence of the international financial crisis, has been showing signs of revival with the prospects of economic recovery and the signing of new agreements. For the last few years, Turkey has been trying to implement a comprehensive energy and foreign policy by considering alternative pipelines. This has not been an easy task for a transit country.

Natalya BELITSER, Kyiv, Ukraine. The ‘frozen’ situation of this conflict has essentially changed over the last couple of years. Therefore, in order to assess the new opportunities, but also risks and challenges linked to these changes, this paper addresses the background and the environment in which the conflict developed, and previous attempts of its resolution...

Elena GNEDINA, Nicu POPESCU, Center for International and European Studies (CIES) at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, specially for BSNews. In this period, the EU undoubtedly developed and intensified its relations with most of its eastern neighbors, but has hardly managed to 'change' them or significantly alter the course of their development...

Andrei Klimenko, Tatiana GUCHAKOVA, BSNews. On December 15, 2012 Istanbul hosted the 27^th summit of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation, during which Ukraine formally accepted from Turkey the BSEC chairmanship.The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn HRYSHCHENKO gave an exclusive interview to BSNews before the summit’s opening ...

Andrei Klimenko, Tatiana GUCHAKOVA, BlackSeaNews. The competitive situation in the Black Sea region makes the Crimea to answer the main question: in what segments of the travel industry it must "rush to catch up the run-away train", and where to look for new and ingenious ways of tourism development with due account of global trends ...