Istanbul, 26/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - Greek Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Costas Simitis and George Panpandreou, took part in the Summit of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation, made up of Russia, Ukraine¸ Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Albania. On that occasion, stressing that Greece was the only member of the EU part of that organisation, George Papandreou said that Athens would do its best to promote ties between the Black Sea countries and the EU.
George Papandreou also met his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem, with whom he spoke of problems of ESDP, the Cyprus issue, Turkey's candidacy for membership of the EU and illegal immigration, says the Greek press agency ANA. The agency stipulates that, regarding the Greek-Turkish problem on European defence, the spokesman for the Greek Government, Chrisos Protopapas, said that, when the problem has been settled with NATO, the EU political decision, based on the conclusions of Seville, would be included in a letter that the High Representative/Secretary General of the EU Council, Javier Solana, will send to NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson.