A jubilee Summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) opened in Istanbul on Tuesday. The Republic of Moldova at the forum is being represented by its President Nicolae Timofti.
The head of state arrived in Istanbul on Monday, and visited the museum house of Moldovan Gospodar [King] Dmitrii Cantemir (1693, 1710-1711), where he laid flowers to a memorial plaque.
Nicolae Timofti met also with the Primate of the Constantinople Orthodox Church, Bartholomew the 1st, and handed in to him the country’s supreme state award – Ordinul Republicii [Order of the Republic] – for his outstanding contribution to the Orthodoxy development and as a sign of gratitude for his help to build and equip Ellada Lyceum in the Macaresti Village (Ungheni Raion) of Moldova.
This Summit is timed to the 20th anniversary of the BSEC founded on June 25, 1992. Since January 2012 it has been chaired by Serbia, and in July the BSEC presidency will go to Turkey.
The Black Sea Economic Cooperation was created on Turkey’s initiative for establishing and developing cooperation between the Black Sea region countries in such spheres as trade, economic development, transportation, telecommunications, tourism, environment protection. The BSEC unites 12 states of the Black Sea and Balkan region, and its headquarters is in Istanbul.
President Timofti’s voyage program envisages his meeting with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.