BTA: National Assembly Hosts 66th General Assembly of Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

The Bulgarian National Assembly is hosting the 66th General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), the parliamentary press service said here on Sunday. The main topic of the forum, which will bring to Sofia delegations from the parliaments of the organisation’s Member States on November 23-25, will be “Cooperation with the European Union and Other International Organisations”.

On Sunday, National Assembly Chair and PABSEC President Raya Nazaryan will open and chair the meetings of the PABSEC Bureau, which traditionally precede the organisation’s largest forum.

National Assembly Deputy Chair Dragomir Stoynev will open the 66th General Assembly on November 24, 2025 at 10 a.m. in the Sofia Grand Hall of the Marinela Hotel. The participants are expected to be addressed by Georgian Parliament Chair Shalva Papuashvili, by the head of the National Assembly delegation to PABSEC and Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy and Innovation, Petar Kanev, and by PABSEC Secretary General Asaf Hajiyev. Representatives of other parliamentary assemblies, international organisations and the ambassadors of PABSEC Member States have been invited to the opening.

National Assembly Deputy Chair Stoynev will hand over the rotating PABSEC presidency to Papuashvili. On July 1, 2025, Bulgaria assumed the leadership of the Assembly for a six-month term from the Parliament of Azerbaijan.

“The Sea Brings All That Is Distant Closer” is the title of an exhibition of old maps of the Black Sea, which will be opened by Stoynev.

Participants in the 66th General Assembly of PABSEC will be presented with information on the activities of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, the BSEC Business Council, the International Centre for Black Sea Studies and the Union of Road Transport Associations of BSEC. The election of PABSEC Vice-Presidents and the adoption of the Assembly’s budget for 2026 are also on the agenda.

The delegates are expected to adopt recommendations on the economic, legal and social aspects of the use of artificial intelligence for sustainable socio-economic development in the BSEC region. They will also set the date, venue and agenda of the next PABSEC General Assembly.

“I expect that in Sofia the parliamentarians from PABSEC Member States will take forward-looking decisions that will support cooperation and the development of the countries of the Black Sea region,” National Assembly Chair Raya Nazaryan said at a meeting on November 21 with PABSEC Secretary General Asaf Hajiyev, who is in Bulgaria for the 66th General Assembly.