Regional Stakeholders Conference "Black Sea Synergy: the way forward" | Athens

Within the framework of the EU Black Sea Synergy Initiative, the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) organised the Regional Stakeholders Conference with the title ‘Black Sea Synergy: the way forward’. The overall objective of the event was to provide a platform for dialogue between stakeholders from EU/MS and non-EU Black Sea countries, in a bottom-up approach, in order to stimulate the discussion on the future of the Black Sea Synergy initiative in the short and medium term.

The Conference was organised into two parts. The first part was about the Black Sea Synergy Outlook, where Dr. Evangelos Papathanassiou & Ms. Ezgi Sahin, from METU Institute of Marine Sciences presented the Black Sea Blue Growth Initiative, the SRIA and the Black Sea CONNECT CSA actions. All participants expressed their will to assist to actions, when required, in the future and there is great potential to be actively involved in Black Sea CONNECT actions.

The second part of the Conference consisted of four working groups, held in an interactive manner with targeted questions, that discussed the fields of culture and tourism, education, transport and energy, in order to overcome bottlenecks and maximize their potential.

In total, more than 90 regional stakeholders participated in the Conference, from the EU Member States, the BSEC Countries, regional and international organisations, representing the business community, academia, research centres, civil society and policy-makers.

As a result of the discussions held within the working groups, ICBSS will develop “Black Sea Synergy: the way forward Action Plan”, to continue the discussion and facilitate the cooperation among the Black Sea stakeholders and the EU with a view to addressing effectively the cooperation challenges and opportunities.

More Information and the Agenda about this event can be found in the Policy Paper entitled ‘Black Sea Synergy: the way forward

Location: Athens