30-th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) was held in Varna, Bulgaria on 19 June 2014.

The Delegation of Ukraine at the Forum was headed by Mr. Andri Veselovsky, Ambassador in charge, the Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

During the Ministerial Meeting discussed the current developments and prospects of the cooperation in different spheres and exchanged their views on issues of the future of the Organization.

The Head of Ukrainian delegation gave assessment to the present state of affairs on cooperation within the Organization and participation of Ukraine in it, in particular in the capacity of Country-Coordinator of the Working group on Trade and Economic Development, the Working Group on Transport and the Working Group on Tourism.

Ukraine will propose the necessary corrections to the Action Plans of the said Working Groups taking into account provisions of the Law of Ukraine «On securing the rights and freedoms of citizens on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine» adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 15 April 2014 due to the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation.

Specified, that occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation created threat to BSEC projects, in particular, on the development of the Black Sea Ring Highway and on the development of the Motorways of the Sea in the Black Sea.

On 25 June 1992 the Heads of State and Government of eleven countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine signed in Istanbul the Summit Declaration and the Bosphorus Statement that defined the scope of the Organization.

The Chairmanship-in-Office of Ukraine in the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation taked place from 1 January till 30 June 2013.