Participants of the roundtable in Odesa discussed security in the Black Sea Region
The event was organized by Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation within the framework of the Kyiv Security Forum with the support of Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, a Project of the German Marshall Fund of the USA.
During the discussion Dr. Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, Director of Center for International and European Studies, Kadir Has University advised to develop cooperation between the Black Sea region and the other regions.
“Trans-regional cooperation is important. It is important to link regions (Mediterranean and Black Sea regions)” – he said.
He also noted that the Black Sea region is not a high-priority region neither for the EU no for the US. “Actually it is for the other stakeholders like Russian Federation”, - said Dr. Triantaphyllou. He also stressed on the fact that there is ongoing process of marginalization of the region.
Dr. Pal Dunay, Director of International Training Course in Security Policy, Geneva Center for Security Policy (Switzerland) speaking on the region in context of “Cold War” and modern international relations mentioned that the Black Sea region always was and is an interesting laboratory. “There are many challenges in the Black Sea region but very few of them can be regarded as antagonistic except some territorial disputes”- he said.
According to his words energy security is a major source of the conflicts in the region. “Only limited trust to Russian Federation as a source of energy resources and to Ukraine as a transit country exists”,- mentioned Dr.Dunay.
Mr. Julian Chifu, Director of Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Center (Romania) named 3 main threats to security of the Black Sea region. “3 challenges exist in Black Sea region: frozen conflicts, terrorism in wider Black Sea region and Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol”,- he said.
H.E. Mr. Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos, Secretary General of the Permanent International Secretariat, BSEC noted that “we are now at the phase of putting the connecting points together in the Black Sea region”. He also warned about possible conflicts in Europe: “what happened in Northern Africa is possible to happen in the EU: Greece is going to explode, Spain is going to explode”.
Mr. Mykola Sunhurovskyi, Director of Military Programs, Center of Economic and Political Research named after Razumkov noted that the Black Sea region has not been formed as a geopolitical integrity yet.
“Countries have more common problems then interests, which increases competition on access to resources rather then contributes to establishing the full-scale partnership. This is a strong withholding and obstacle in terms of realization of regional integration projects”, - said the expert. He also believes that the approaches to resolution of one of the most serious regional challenges – “frozen” conflicts - should be changed: emphasis should be shifted from the self-proclaimed states to the questions of improving living standards of population, democracy strengthening.
“The Black Sea region with its significant resources and development potential is at the same time a zone of instability, threats and risks, which creates challenges for their (resources and potential) utilization”, - summed up Mr. Sunhurovskyi.
Dr. Ognyan Minchev, Director of Institute for Regional and International Studies (Bulgaria) was pessimistic about the role of small states within the security dialogue in the region. “We can hardly speak about the Black Sea region in terms of security – it was disintegrated during the last years… The US partially is withdrawn from the Black Sea region… NATO is not an option anymore”, - he noted.
The expert believes that the EU without enlisting for enlargement has no real instrument to assist countries with transformation. He also doesn’t consider the EU’s Eastern Partnership Program to be a real instrument due to lack of finances.
Panayotis Gavras, Head on Policy and Strategy, The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (Greece) believes that improving business environment is a key task for the region. He proposed to concentrate discussion on the following question: can regional cooperation help economic growth?
Ambassador at Large of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Veselovskyi also supported this opinion. He noted that the emphasis should be made on economic dimension in the regional cooperation. Ambassador considers it to be a factor that can become a driving engine for the development of the Black Sea region.
Ambassador Veselovskyi also asked experts to concentrate efforts on the existing regional structures instead of creating new ones.
We would like to remind you that you can read analytical materials, developed exclusively for the roundtable at:
Clashing Identities and Risks to European Stability: Black Sea Region DimensionSummary of the Black Sea Security Round Table within the framework of Kyiv Security Forum "Black Sea Region: A Geopolitical Puzzle or High-Priority Area?"Agenda of the Black Sea Security Round Table within the framework of Kyiv Security Forum "Black Sea Region: A Geopolitical Puzzle or High-Priority Area?"
           |
Open Ukraine Foundation in partnership with Razumkov Centre held a discussion on Ukrainian-Turkish relations in Istanbul
Center for International and European Studies at Kadir Has University became a Turkish partner for the organization of this event. The event was funded by the Black Sea Trust of Regional Cooperation – a Project of the GMF (USA).
It was emphasized during the discussion that the leading countries of the world and Eurasia are getting increasingly interested in the Black Sea region in terms of energy security, conflict resolution, migration and other key policy areas. Participants from Ukraine and Turkey had a meaningful discussion and agreed that the Black Sea region, where both countries play an important role, needs to focus joint efforts on security and stability strengthening.
Participants exchanged views on the status and prospects of cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey and how to uphold relations between the two countries to a new level.
The issue of European integration of Ukraine and Turkey has also become an important subject of the discussion, since Ukraine intends to conclude negotiations with the EU on the Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, before the end of 2011. Ukrainian side stressed the importance of taking into account Turkey’s experience, a member of the EU Customs Union since 1996, and an Associate Member since 1964.
Rector of Kadir Has University, Dr. Mustafa Aydin and Deputy Director General of the Razumkov Centre, Dr. Valeriy Chaliy expressed hope that the conference will be an important step for the development of partnership of the researchers and experts of the two countries, which will be an additional element of implementation of the official agreements and the perspective of cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine.
Razumkov Centre presented position paprer: "The Ukrainian-Turkish relations: strengthening of security and stability in the Black Sea region" and called on Turkish partners to join the development of joint recommendations for the governments of two countries.
Special summarized publication on the development of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Turkey in the context of enhancing the security and stability in the Black Sea region is planned to be produced as a result of the conference.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation has defined the winners among the young researchers who as a reward will visit International Neighbourhood Symposium on June 28 – July 3, 2011 in Turkey.
As a result of the competition two research papers shared first place with the same scores from Expert Board, while the third paper was graded to be in the second one.
The authors of the first two papers will be awarded the scholarships to participate in the International Neighbourhood Symposium.
The winners are:
Tsotne ZURABIANI (Georgia, Hochschule Bremen, Master in European Studies) and Mariana Konstantinov (Moldova, Hochschule Bremen, Master in European Studies) for their research paper “Russian Soft Power towards the Black Sea Region”.
Marius STROIA (Romania, Police inspector, Commanding officer (captain) on board of patrol vessel, Constanta (County Border Police Inspectorate, Mangalia Naval Group) and Konstantina KERAMITSI (Greece, Police Lieutenant A’, Head of the office of appeals against administrative decisions, Aliens Directorate in Thessaloniki) for their research paper "Cooperation in the Black Sea Region to Combat Illegal Immigration”.
Eugenia KRUGLOVA (Ukraine, IVth Year Student, Faculty of International Economics, Crimean Institute of Kyiv Vadym Hetman National Economics University) and Ellina KABANOVA (Russia, IVth Year Student, Faculty of Romano-Germanic Philology, Voronezh State University) ) for their research paper “International Economy of Black Sea Port Sector: Rivalry Between Russia and Ukraine”.
Competition of research papers was organized within the framework of the Kyiv Security Forum, with the support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation – A Project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Young researchers (under the age of 35) from the Black Sea littoral states and also all the other BSEC member-states have participated in the competition.
The competition appealed to stimulate regional cooperation in the research field and to promote collaboration among young researchers from the Black Sea region. The prize was attributed to those researchers who to the opinion of the distinguished Expert Board members produced the most innovative and sophisticated analysis of the common security concerns in the Black Sea region with inventive suggestions for resolutions of these issues.
We are pleased to present you the research papers of the winners among the young researchers competition.
Download
Russian Soft Power toward the Black Sea Region. TSOTNE ZURABIANI, GEORGIA, MARIANA CONSTANTINOV, MOLDOVA Cooperation in the Black Sea Region to Combat Illegal Immigration. MARIUS STROIA, ROMANIA, KONSTANTINA KERAMITSI, GREECEInternational Economy of Black Sea Port Sector: Rivalry between Russia and Ukraine. EUGENIA KRUGLOVA, UKRAINE, ELLINA KABANOVA, RUSSIA 
