A press conference was held upon the completion of the 35^th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), chaired by Serbia in the first half of 2010. The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and PABSEC Chair Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, Deputy Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Nevzat Pakdil, PABSEC Vice-Presidents Vassilios Geranidis and Mehmet Cicek, as well as Aleksey Kudriavtsev, PABSEC Secretary General spoke, at the press conference.

The conference was hosted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia from 1 to 3 June. NARS Speaker and PABSEC Chair Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic ceremonially handed the chairmanship to Nevzat Pakdil, Deputy Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The Republic of Turkey shall chair the PABSEC for the rest of 2010.

Honoured that the NARS hosted the gathering, the NARS Speaker repeated PABSEC’s goals – promoting democratic values and the rule of law and improving market economy. “PABSEC provides the basis for a successful multilateral, political and cultural cooperation in the region”, said the Assembly Speaker.

Declaring the conference a success, Djukic-Dejanovic expressed pleasure at the fact that the main topic of the Belgrade session was Role of Parliaments in Strengthening the Principle of International Law. “You are well aware of Serbia’s respect for the basic principles of international law and the United Nations Charter, particularly the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty of the UN member states”, the Assembly Speaker said.

Pakdil expressed an expectation that Turkey would contribute to PABSEC’s work adding that “there should be no problems among neighbours. Turkey is ready to shake hands with everyone in order to resolve problems peacefully, which is every parliament’s paramount task”.

PABSEC Secretary General Aleksey Kudriavtsev announced that at PABSEC’s autumn session, to be held in November in Istanbul, the parliamentarians shall debate cultural cooperation among the member states, environmental issues, cooperation between the PABSEC and European Parliament.