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Black Sea region needs greater UN presence, countries tell UN GA

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  • Black Sea region needs greater UN presence, countries tell UN GA

    UN News Centre

    Black Sea region needs greater UN presence, countries tell General Assembly

    Lazar Comanescu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Romania

    27 September 2008 ` Senior officials from Romania and Bulgaria have
    called on the United Nations to play an enhanced role in promoting
    democracy and regional peace and stability across the Black Sea area,
    saying the recent conflict in Georgia signalled some of the challenges
    the region faces. Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu told the
    General Assembly's annual high-level debate today that the benefits
    that would flow from a more stable region are enormous.

    `If we take a closer look we see a region with a large population, an
    important hub for energy and transport flows, a great economic
    potential,' he said.

    `The United Nations should be there to assist the region not only in
    de-frosting conflicts, but also to help coastal countries in
    cooperating to solve problems related to pollution, illegal migration,
    organized crime and drug trafficking, so as to project stability and
    to support development.'

    Mr. Comanescu said the conflict in August in Georgia's breakaway South
    Ossetia region, `with its reverberations in Abkhazia and the entire
    State of Georgia and beyond, should focus the attention of the
    international community on all protracted conflicts in the area,
    including Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh.'

    In his address yesterday to the Assembly, Bulgarian Prime Minister
    Sergei Stanishev said the UN's experience in peacemaking and conflict
    prevention could be much better utilized by the Black Sea region.

    `Democracy, security and cooperation still have their further way to
    go in the Black Sea region,' he said. `More coherent efforts are
    needed for the ultimate settlement of the protracted conflicts
    there. Frozen conflicts should not be neglected because they tend to
    re-ignite tension time and again.'

    Mr. Stanishev said the fighting in South Ossetia between Georgian,
    Russian and South Ossetian forces provided `ample evidence' of the
    need to resolve frozen conflicts sooner rather than later.

    `Should the plans for a regional centre for UN mediation in the
    Western Balkans/Black Sea area meet approval by Member States,
    Bulgaria stands ready to host it in Sofia, and to facilitate in every
    possible way its activities in South-East Europe, in the South
    Caucasus and other neighbouring areas,' he added.

    Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, also speaking yesterday in the
    General Debate, said it was vital to keep working towards greater
    stability across South-East Europe, particularly given the `unfinished
    business' in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    `The foundations for stability in this country reside in the respect
    for equal rights for all three constituent and sovereign people:
    Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs,' Mr. Sanader said.

    `The Republic of Croatia, along with the international community,
    stands ready to support and assist Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as
    all the countries in the region, through an active policy of
    cooperation. Such cooperation paves the way for long-standing security
    and prosperity in South-East Europe.'
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