On 19 of June 2014 representatives of BSCSIF and its International Center for Support and Coordination of Economic Cooperation (ICSCEC) met in Ankara with the Vice President of Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) to discuss possible directions for common action and cooperation.
The meeting took place at TIKA’s premises, where Mr. Ali Maskan, Vice-President of TIKA welcomed Ms. Alev Balgi, Executive Director of BSCSIF, and Ms. Natalia Ciobanu, ICSCEC Project Coordinator. It was a first occasion for the two organizations two get more closely acquainted with each other’s past and current activities and priorities for action. During the meeting TIKA and BSCSIF representatives agreed that the Black Sea – Caspian Sea region is a culturally rich area that still needs to learn to make use of its cultural diversity in a constructive and peaceful way. To do so, TIKA expressed its willingness to support and be part of cultural and educational projects. Having this in mind, BSCSIF has been engaging its pool of specialists to work on projects in these areas.
TIKA is currently active with 33 Programme Coordination Offices in 30 cooperation partner countries, and carries out the task of being a cooperating mechanism for the state institutions and organizations, universities, non-profit organizations and the private sector. In addition it functions as a platform for these actors to come together and it records the development aid carried out by Turkey.
The cooperation between TIKA and BSCSIF initiated during this meeting is in line with one of the main directions for action of BSCSIF: building peace through education, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, and celebration of cultural diversity.