Black Sea Synergy: the way forward

Building on the Joint Staff Working Document ‘Black Sea Synergy: review of a regional cooperation initiative – period 2015 -2018’, by the EC and the European External Action Service (EEAS), the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) organized successfully the Regional Stakeholders Conference “Black Sea Synergy: the way forward” on Thursday 7 November 2019, at Royal Olympic Hotel, in Athens, Greece.

In a bottom-up approach, the Conference provided a platform for dialogue for stakeholders from EU/MS and non-EU Black Sea countries, to stimulate the discussion on the future of the Black Sea Synergy initiative in a project-oriented way, as well as to highlight best practices and opportunities for synergies in the wider Black Sea region.

Through thematic working groups, special emphasis will be placed on the four fields of cooperation identified with some progress, i.e. culture and tourism, education, transport and energy, in order to overcome bottlenecks and maximize their potential. 

The main results and policy recommendations were elaborated in the ICBSS Policy Paper Black Sea Synergy: the way forward (2019) to support a practical, result-oriented intra- and bi- regional cooperation.

The event was organised within the framework of the Hellenic BSEC Chairmanship-in-Office and received co-funding by DG NEAR, within the framework of the ENI East Instrument.

Event photos are available here