ARFD Youth Wing representative Artak Zargaryan told a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent that the Black Sea conference on "Cooperation of Democracy and Development" is being organized in Armenia for the first time. Conference participants are members of political parties and organizations represented in International Union of Young Socialists (IUSY). "Before that, conferences in that format were held in Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Armenia has never been a hosting country since Azerbaijan and Turkey, its neighboring states, were always against it."

According to Zargaryan, Azerbaijan has refused to participate in the conference, arguing that such step will not be approved by the country's nationalistic movements. "The Turkish side too, has turned down our proposal, although it all the time speaks about cooperation and establishment of ties," Mr. Zargaryan said.

The conference attended by socialist party representatives from Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Sweden, Spain, Greece, Iran, Cyprus, Canada and Syria is taking place in Yerevan from May 24 till 27. The initiator is the ARFD youth wing.