CMA Ministerial Meeting

The Second Ministerial Meeting of the Common Maritime Agenda (CMA) was successfully held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey on 14 December 2021, online. Top officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, transport, the environment, science, and higher education of Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldavia, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine, as well as those from the European Commission, attended Turkey chaired and CMA National Hub member and the Black Sea CONNECT coordinator Baris Salihoglu moderated the meeting.

Participants in the meeting emphasized the importance of carrying out diverse joint projects in the Black Sea region, expanding cooperation in the maritime economy, as well as pushing forward the research component of cooperation under the CMA’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas for the Black Sea. It was noted that carrying out the CMA might help the countries involved improve the political climate in the region.

The key role of the H2020 Black Sea CONNECT, BRIDGE-BS, and DOORS projects not only in the implementation of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and CMA but also in the development of the science-based blue economy in the Black Sea was emphasized at the meeting.

In 2021, when Turkey is the CMA term president, under the joint execution of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, it showed a very successful leadership despite the pandemic and handed over the flag to Georgia for 2022 with the commendable messages of the Black Sea country ministers and the European Commission