The Secretary General was speaking at the opening of the 2007 Black Sea Oil and Gas Summit in Istanbul, which was organised as part of the Turkish presidency of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and which brought together high-level government and industry participants from across the region. In his speech, Mr Mernier underlined the importance of a balanced framework of multilateral rules in order to underpin the development of markets, investment and trade across the Black Sea region. He also called upon the new Turkish Government to provide the strategic direction that can remove remaining obstacles to investment and ensure that Turkey can provide Caspian resource-owners with both a strong market for their exports and also with reliable access to other international markets.

All the Black Sea littoral states are signatories of the Energy Charter Treaty, and, together with other members from across Europe and Asia, will convene again in Istanbul in December for the annual meeting of the Energy Charter Conference, the Energy Charter’s governing body.