The 15th annual summit of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation kicked off today in Istanbul. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and eleven other heads of state of BSEC member countries are taking part in the summit and will also attend an energy conference entitled "East meets West: the new borders of energy security". On the fringes of the summit Saakashvili held face-to-face meetings with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The participating BSEC leaders and foreign ministers attended an official lunch today at Ciragan Palace. Russian President Vladimir Putin told Georgian journalists afterwards that he spoke to Saakashvili at the lunch, but did not mention what topics were discussed. Saakashvili also spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the summit.

President Saakashvili delivered an address at the summit in which he spoke about the important role of the international community in the resolution of territorial conflicts in the region, as well as economic diversification and issues of energy security. Saakashvili said that these issues were of key importance to all countries in Europe and Black Sea basin. He also noted that Georgia was one of the founding members of the organization.

"All of us aspire to achieve energy independence and the diversification of our energy resources. President Aliyev also noted this during his speech. Our goal is to develop infrastructure and have Georgia and Azerbaijan serve as a link between Europe and Asia. The objective of this organization is to jointly overcome problems and facilitate our countries' development. We must now do more in terms of cooperation in order ensure that the road from Asia to Europe is not limited and so that Europe can fully benefit from Central Asia's energy potential. We must be active in this regard, showing political will and taking advantage of our economic opportunities," Saakashvili said, adding: "The main thing is that energy diversification will bring stability to Europe, as well as the world market. Georgia and its partners are ready to do more to this end by fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal migration. We have no other choice."

The Georgian president's speech also touched on the separatist conflicts in the former Soviet Union, including in Georgia. He said that the Georgian government was offering broad autonomy to South Ossetia.

"Geopolitical revolutions have made this region a component part of Europe. We are Europe and the processes under way here are very important for Europe's wholeness. The violation of our countries' territorial integrity would be devastating for the stability of the region.

"We actively support Turkey's accession to the European Union. This would be good for Turkey, as well as for Europe.

"Of course we all face domestic problems. Georgia has inherited the problem of separatism, but we have disassociated ourselves from the policy of ethnic strife. We believe in achieving unity based on the principle of protecting all people's rights. It is inadmissible and inhumane to make rhetorical statements about new borders in this region. Georgia will spare no effort to ensure the wellbeing of Georgian citizens of all ethnic groups, including Abkhaz and Ossetians.

"I think we are close to a resolution of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. We are offering the Ossetian people everything they have ever dreamt of. We have established a temporary administrative unit for South Ossetia. It is this administration that promises peace to the people of the region. We have direct ties with the leader of the temporary administration [Dmitriy Sanakoyev] and soon he will share his political vision in Brussels [at the European Parliament on 26 June]. The time for talk is over. It is now time to act. There cannot be any frozen situations. Displaced people must return to their homes.

"I would like to conclude my speech by recalling the words of Kemal Ataturk: 'Success awaits those who say an endeavour is successful when beginning it and can repeat the same words when finishing it.' I hope that those of us gathered here today will be able to say that we have achieved our goal and that we are successful," Saakashvili said.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko spoke to Georgian journalists in Istanbul and said that the conflict regions were one of the main topics under discussion at the summit. He added that talks would be held on the creation of a GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) peacekeeping force and its deployment in regional conflict zones. Yushchenko said that representatives of countries that are trusted by the host country should act as peacekeepers and reiterated Ukraine's readiness to take part in such a peacekeeping mission if the mission is given an international mandate.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia