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BSEC tourism, culture chiefs to gather for conference in Russia’s Sochi

Participants will discuss possible measures to encourage mutual tourist flows, development of certain types of tourism and joint actions to promote national travel destinations

SOCHI, June 23. /TASS/. Ministers of culture and tourism from the countries of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) will gather for a conference in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Thursday.

"Participants will discuss issues of cooperation in the sphere of tourism. They will discuss possible measures to encourage mutual tourist flows, development of certain types of tourism and joint actions to promote national travel destinations. The program of the conference will include a joint session of working groups on culture and on cooperation in the area of tourism," the press service of the Russian ministry of culture said.

The conference will be opened by chief of Russia’s Federal Tourism Agency Oleg Safonov and BSEC Secretary General Michael Christides.

The Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation was set up on June 25, 1992 as a regional initiative to become a full-format international organization in May 1999 when its Charter came into effect. The organization comprises Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Twelve countries and four organizations enjoy the observer status.

Russia has been holding presidency in the BSEC since the beginning of 2016. Final event of its presidency in the organization are scheduled for June 29 - July 1 in Sochi.

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