Turkey handed over the presidency of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) to Ukraine.

During a BSEC meeting in Istanbul, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu handed over the presidency to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko for the first six months of 2013.

As Mr. Hryshchenko stated during the handover ceremony, Ukraine will take every effort to boost the regional role of the Organization.

He also noted trade, transport, energy, science, technologies, tourism, environment protection and countering organized crime as key issues on Ukraine's BSEC presidency agenda.

Currently, the Organization lists 12 member states: Azerbaijan, Albania, Bulgarian, Armenia, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine.