The members of the organization, founded in 1992, are: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
"Britain has been granted observer status in the BSEC, which means the country can take part in meetings dedicated to certain issues," Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos said at the 18th meeting of the BSEC Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Kiev.
The United Kingdom has joined the United States, Austria, Germany, France, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy and some other countries.
Chrysanthopoulos said that Japan would not be receiving observer status, although it earlier had submitted a bid, adding that it was a matter of procedure and that the application would take more time.
