News and Events

New Initiatives for Supporting Climate, Energy, Tourism and Transport Projects in the Black Sea Region
25.02.2009

On 23 and 24 February, 2009 in Athens, Greece took place the Black Sea Conference on Regional Integration and Inclusive Growth. The conference was organized by the World Bank in cooperation with the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The event attracted over 150 participants from 12 countries and 6 donor organizations active in the Black Sea region.

The major focus of the event was to explore the initial effects of the global financial crisis on the Black Sea markets and economies, as well as the effects on climate change in the region and the development of possible common strategies and partnerships to overcome them. To this respect, of particular interest was the presentation delivered by Mr. Theodoros Skylakakis, a Secretary General for International Economic Relations and Development at the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs entitled Managing Climate Change in Least Developed Countries, whereby he stated that a major focus of the Greek official development assistance to developing countries (including ones from the Black Sea region) since 2008 was the support for implementation climate mitigation projects.

The conference also served as a platform to present three new initiatives of the European Commission (EC) and UNDP, specifically targeted at the Black Sea Region.

The first initiative is entitled Eastern Partnership. The program is still awaiting a final approval by the EC and it will include 6 countries from the region, namely: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The Eastern Partnership is a part of the European Neighborhood Policy and will have two tracks: bilateral and multilateral relations and four thematic platforms including: democracy and good governance, economic integration and convergence, energy security and contacts between people. The Partnership shall be launched in May, 2009.

The second recent regional initiative focused on the Black Sea Region was initiated in June 2008. The initiative is entitled Black Sea Synergy and its primary focus is to invigorate and better coordinate existing regional cooperation through the EU enlargement in 3 major fields: transport, energy and environment.

The Black Sea Synergy Initiative (BSSI) is a complimentary initiative to the broad EU policies in the Black Sea region, including the European Neighborhood Policy, the pre-accession agreement with Turkey and the Strategic Partnership with Russia. It would also enhance synergies with and build upon experiences of existing regional initiatives linking the Black Sea region to the EU, such as the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and the Danube Cooperation Process. The Synergy includes 8 countries from the region: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine and initially, it would focus on those issues and cooperation sectors which reflect common priorities and where EU presence and support is already significant. A major emphasis will be put on the development of alternative energy sources and on energy efficiency and energy saving, as well as on promotion of regional-level activities to combat climate change, in particular by making use of the joint implementation of the clean development mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol and engage the Black Sea Region countries in international discussions on future action, such as longer-term development of national emissions-trading schemes in the region.

The third recent initiative in the Black Sea region entitled Black Sea Trade and Investment Promotion Programme (BSTIP) was initiated at the end of 2007. BSTIP is a joint initiative of the Government of the Hellenic Republic, of the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is managed from a Programme Management Office located in Athens and aims at: expansion of the intra-regional trade and investment links in the sub-region in areas such as: tourism, bio-agriculture, services, etc.; promotion of UN Global Compact Initiative and building capacity on application of EU and WTO legislation in those areas.