The Forty-First PABSEC General Assembly in Sofia

According to PABSEC press office. the 41st General Assembly of the PABSEC and Summit of the Presidents of the Parliaments of BSEC Member States dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of the PABSEC will take place in Sofia 9-11 July 2013 upon the invitation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria.

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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) was created as a result of the major political changes in the late 1980’s, when the nations of the Black Sea region re-emerged on the world scene. The search by the countries of the region for ways of meeting challenges of national development and European integration paved the way for combining their efforts with a view to turning the Black Sea region into the area of stability, prosperity and peace. Taking advantage of common denominators such as geographic proximity and shared cultural and historical heritage, the countries of the region have expedited the establishment of bilateral and multilateral relations.

The Summit Declaration of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and the Bosphorus Statement, signed in Istanbul on 25 June 1992, defined the basic principles and objectives of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), formally instituting a new regional cooperation process with participation of eleven countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Republic of Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine. Serbia and Montenegro joined the PABSEC in 2004, becoming the twelfth Member State. In 2006, after Montenegro declared its independence, the Republic of Serbia became the legal successor of the former state both in the BSEC and the PABSEC.

On 26 February 1993 in Istanbul, the Speakers of the Parliaments of nine countries – Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine – adopted the Declaration on the Establishment of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC).

In June 1995, Greece joined the Assembly as the tenth full-fledged member.

Bulgaria became the eleventh full-fledged member in June 1997.

In November 2004, Serbia and Montenegro joined the Assembly, thus becoming the twelfth full-fledged member.

The Parliamentary Assembly is composed of 76 parliamentarians representing twelve BSEC Member States. The People’s Assembly of Egypt, the Knesset of the State of Israel, the National Assembly of France and the French Senate, the German Bundestag, the National Council of the Slovak Republic and the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus have an observer status.

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