The event is part of a series of workshops organised in the Black Sea coastal countries and the Republic of Moldova under the “Facility for Blue Growth” project. This EU-funded project provides administrative assistance to public and private maritime stakeholders wishing to boost sustainable blue growth at national and regional level. It aims at identifying common challenges and possible areas of cooperation on the blue economy at national and regional level, agree on concrete actions and ultimately arrive at a common maritime agenda for the Black Sea by 2019. The Black Sea countries have just committed to such an agenda last May, when they endorsed the Burgas Ministerial Declaration.
In her opening speech Mrs. Melania Ciot stressed that in a more complex and “interconnected world, we will only get ahead if we are ready to talk to others and cooperate. This is why we meet today: to start the blue growth journey by better implementing the policies that we have and by improving their coordination.” She added that the “Burgas Declaration should be followed by a Bucharest Agenda of the littoral states and the Republic of Moldova.” She concluded that the work ahead is challenging, but the opportunities for achieving long-cherished goals are unique.
The discussion that followed showed sharp interest in the potential of the blue economy in this country. Participants – who came from the public administration, the private sector and civil society – also pointed to a series of actions that should be carried out to pursue such potential. The maritime skills should be better suited to serve the demands of the blue economy; a cross-sectorial dialogue should be established, as well as a genuine link between the research and business worlds; the maritime sector should be digitized; and access to funding and sustainable financing should become easier. A detailed assessment of the Blue Economy in Romania will be produced based on the discussions.
Similar workshops have already taken place in Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
More information about the Black Sea cooperation:
https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/sea_basins/black_sea_en
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