The delegation of the National Assembly, headed by Predrag Markovic, acting delegation head, and comprising delegation members Sanda Raskovic Ivic and Bojan Kostres, took part in the debate on “The cities of the BSEC Member States: problems of the economic, environmental, cultural and social development”. The delegation also took part in the Third Black See Business Forum, gathering businessmen, parliamentarians and government representatives of the Black Sea region states.

At the 40th session of the PABSEC General Assembly, hosted by the Parliament of Azerbaijan, the delegations of the parliaments of Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, Georgia, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey and Greece, as well as the delegations of the European Parliament, French Senate, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Central European Initiative, also discussed the role of public-private partnerships for sustainable economic development, social welfare reforms and the role of parliaments in enhancing information (cyber) security in the BSEC member states.

The 40th session of the PABSEC General Assembly was attended by the parliament speakers of Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Turkey, and Bulgarian Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva took over the half-year presidency of the PABSEC from Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Oktay Asadov. On the occasion, she urged for cooperation and friendly relations in the wider Black Sea region and pointed out that Bulgaria would, for the duration of its presidency, strive to boost the organisation’s efficiency and visibility, as well as contribute to the further development of regional cooperation and improvement of the political and economic climate for cooperation in the region.

The next PABSEC General Assembly will take place in May 2013, in Varna.