Twelve-nation South Europe bloc pledges beltway around Black Sea

The 12-nation Black Sea summit Monday highlighted the region's rapid growth and pledged to build a beltway road around the Black Sea, RIA Novosti reports.In a joint declaration following the Monday summit, the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation pledged to enhance cooperation between its member states to build a beltway road around the Black Sea and to provide for better sea transportation to link European transport routes to those across Eurasia. The members - Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine - highlighted that the region is one of the fastest-growing in the world and indicated in the summit declaration that the bloc, founded in 1992, may need to revise its future targets and commitments accordingly.

In November, the current presidency, Turkey, will hand over to Ukraine, still embroiled in political turmoil and looking at a snap parliamentary election in the fall.