"Security, Development, and Regional Cooperation in the Black Sea Area"

First Conference, Varna, Bulgaria, 15-18 April 2010

27.04.2010

For the first time after their nomination for the Black Sea Young Reformers Fellowship, the Fellows-to-be met in Varna, Bulgaria, from April 15-18, 2010. In the city by the Black Sea that is full of symbolic importance, participants from 9 countries of the Wider Black Sea Area came together to discuss current challenges and chances of the region.

The conference titled "Security, Development, and Regional Cooperation in the Black Sea Area" addressed different topics, which were discussed among the participants in workshops and plenary sessions. Nation building and democratization, institutional development, and security challenges were subjects of the debate as well as new strategies for strengthening the regional cooperation.  As Ognyan Minchev, director of the Institute for Regional and International Cooperation (IRIS) stated, the challenge is to bind the Black Sea countries more tightly, especially through economic interdependence.

The participants agreed that the European Union has to provide more assistance to supporting the building of a partnership in the region. Other than that the Black Sea countries bear the responsibility for operating more pro-actively when trying to get the EU involved in their domestic affairs. The trick is to involve the European Union in democratization processes in these countries in order to tie up the EU’s attention and interest in the region and to achieve "serious political investment", as one of the participants specified in the debate.

When talking about democratization in the Black Sea Region, one claimed that we must keep the role of the civil society in mind. It’s not the number of NGOs in a country that creates a civil society, but the connection between the NGOs and the society, as well as the NGOs and the government. Adding to that, the civil society sector needs a sustainability mechanism to keep the work going in an effective way.

It’s all about a shared vision in the Black Sea region. The lack of a shared vision between the Black Sea countries is what causes the instability in the building of partnerships and impedes the democratization process in the region. Getting a handle on security challenges – hard and soft security conflicts, domestic threats, and international security threats – and including NATO as well as Russia in the progress of resolving conflicts could be a win-win situation for all parties.

The participants experienced first-hand how cooperation in the Black Sea region can work when the air space was closed on the last day of the conference because of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano eruption in Iceland. Without hesitation, the Black Sea Young Reformer Fellows managed to work in groups and coordinate their departure from Varna in Minivans bound for Istanbul, Bucharest, or Sofia. This is what we call: Regional Cooperation in the Black Sea Area.

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