OBSERVER STATUS AT BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000398 SIPDIS E.O.12958: DECL: 01/21/2015 TAGS: ECIN ETTC KFPC PREL TU XG SUBJECT: OBSERVER STATUS AT BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION REFS: A. STATE 4274 ¶B. KIEV 146 Classified By: Ambassador Eric Edelman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Mission Turkey believes that it would be in U.S. interests to have observer status to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) forum and that we should begin consultations to this end. In ConGen Istanbul's initial meeting with him, new BSEC Secretary General Tedo Japaridze said he would welcome the U.S. as an observer. ¶2. (C) BSEC is an institution still struggling to fulfill its vision to bring cooperation and prosperity to the Black Sea region. To the extent that economic cooperation has increased among some BSEC members, it is hard to identify BSEC's contribution. During its brief history, BSEC has been little more than a talk shop, where heads of state meet regularly to issue impressive statements while working groups struggle to implement basic initiatives. The most serious shortcoming of the BSEC is the size of its membership. With members ranging from Azerbaijan to Albania, not all countries share a strong interest in Black Sea issues -- only half the BSEC members have Black Sea coasts -- and cooperation among countries in the region has proved difficult in the past. ¶3. (C) However, newly-appointed Secretary General Japaridze is determined to improve BSEC's ability to make concrete contributions. In particular, BSEC could become an effective mechanism for pursuing regional objectives, including combating HIV/AIDS and trafficking in persons and narcotics as well as in combating proliferation of WMD and the issues mentioned in ref A. Japaridze is well known to the U.S. Government, including from his previous posting as Ambassador to Washington, and familiar with the way we work. He has the potential, including with our help, to inject the dynamism the organization has heretofore lacked. Therefore, we think the timing is right to explore ways that we can use observer status in BSEC to provide us with greater opportunities to understand and influence developments in the Black Sea region. ConGen Istanbul and Embassy Ankara look forward to working with the Department and other BSEC posts to move this forward. EDELMAN