Tbilisi, 15 December 2005
At the invitation of the Georgian Side, the Special Representatives of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs at the level of Deputy Ministers (hereinafter referred to as the Representatives) of the Participating States to the BLACKSEAFOR Agreement met in Tbilisi on December 15, 2005 under the provisions of Article VI of the mentioned Agreement to continue the process initiated at the First political consultations in Ankara on January 19, 2004 proceeded by the meetings of the Special Representatives in Moscow on July 7, 2004 and in Kyiv on March 31, 2005 with a view to employing the potential of the BLACKSEAFOR for the purposes of preventing terrorism and illicit trafficking in WMD, their means of delivery and related materials.
The Representatives approved a document on “Legal Aspects Regarding BLACKSEAFOR’s Task of Preventing Terrorism and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Their Means of Delivery and Related Materials”.
The Representatives acknowledged the efforts undertaken this year by all participating states towards defining BLACKSEAFOR’s role in preventing terrorism and illicit trafficking in WMD, their means of delivery and related materials, resulted in some important achievements: the approval of the Report of the HLEG and its Annexes on Risk Assessment and Legal Aspects and the decision by the BSNC to extend the term of duty of OPBLACKSEAFOR from existing period of time to a year-round basis and the important contribution for drafting the Sub-concept for Operations and proposals of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for OPBLACKSEAFOR. They also expressed their satisfaction for successfully implementing, the Kyiv decision to carry out maritime security training by BLACKSEAFOR, during activations.
The Representatives:
- Reinstructed HLEG to complete as soon as possible, preferably in the first half of the year 2006, their work on the three remaining annexes to be submitted for approval to the Special Representatives meeting as follows:
- Instructed BSNC to continue conducting maritime thematic exercises, including maritime security trainings with a view to increasing interoperability, including through PC to PC communications system provided by Turkey, and to perform exercises connected with other regional exercises and operations during activation.
a. Bilateral MOU on Confidential Information Exchange amongst States in accordance with article XI of the Agreement.
b. TOR for OPBLACKSEAFOR, taking into account the relevant texts attached to the 18 November 2005 BSNC report.
c. Sub-concept of operations (Sub-CONOPS) of BLACKSEAFOR (taking into account the BSNC report of 18 November 2005 as well as other proposals made by parties at the Tbilisi meeting of Special Representatives).
Georgia announced its POC on information exchange.
The Representatives will reassess the results of the HLEG and BSNC work at their next meeting to be established through diplomatic channels.
The delegations of Bulgaria, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine expressed their gratitude to Georgia for hosting the meeting in Tbilisi.