Turkey's top diplomat due at Black Sea bloc meeting

<p>By Diyar Guldogan</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s foreign minister on Friday will be in Azerbaijan for a meeting of his colleagues from Black Sea coastal states.</p> <p>In the capital Baku, Mevlut Cavusoglu will attend the 39th meeting of the council of foreign ministers of Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) member states.</p> <p>&quot;Turkey places importance on the work of the BSEC, which not only contributes to enhancing economic cooperation among the BSEC Member States, but also to cultivating a culture of dialogue and promoting stability in the region,&quot; the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.</p> <p>Turkey will continue its efforts to boost the group’s effectiveness, it added.</p> <p>During the meeting, the ministers will discuss recent BSEC activities in the areas of transport, information and communication technology, energy, the environment, customs, fighting organized crime, agriculture, and culture.</p> <p>They will also exchange views on additional steps to turn the BSEC into a more project-oriented organization.</p> <p>Headquartered in Istanbul, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) was established in 1992 with the aim of acting in a spirit of friendship and good neighborliness and enhancing mutual respect and confidence, dialogue and cooperation among the member states.</p> <p>The group has 12 members; Turkey, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine.</p>