Location: Odessa, Ukraine
Date: 14-15/06/2016
Venue: Hotel Bristol, 15 Pushkins'ka street, 65026 Odessa

THANK YOU!
The organisers' team would like to Thank you for your interest in the 3rd High-Level Black Sea Stakeholder Conference. In the next days, you will find some useful documents about the Conference such as the speakers' presentations, the speaker's guide, the effective list of participants and other conference proceedings. Please note that the summary of the conference proceedings will be soon available in English.

• Programme
• Video recording of the event
• Press release
• Effective list of participants
• Photo gallery on Flickr
• Detailed minutes of Day 1
• Speakers' biographies

Building on the success of the two previous Stakeholder conferences (in Bucharest and Sofia), the European Commission in cooperation with Ukraine staged a forum for blue growth in Odessa. The two-day event will focused on the added value of the blue economy in the Black Sea region and brought together successful entrepreneurs and policy makers on the table to debate on:

• how to bring destinations closer to tourists,
• how coastal and maritime tourism can help blue economies thrive,
• how to chart the sea bed with the help of the research community,
• how to fund maritime business endeavours and where to find partners,
• what skills and competences are needed to enable the marine/maritime workforce to apply new technologies,
• how the SMEs can benefit from the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument and the European Enterprise Network,
• how to use the sea in a sustainable manner.

Key speakers included Mr Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Mr Volodymyr Kistion, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mr Andrei Galbur, Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova and Mr Georgi Pirinski, Member of the European Parliament (S&D).

The event affirmed European Commission's commitment to work collectively and in partnership with the Black Sea countries to support a blue and sustainable economy in the region and to maximise marine and maritime cooperation across all bordering states.

More information about our sea-basin approach and actions in the Black Sea

Presentations and speeches (as delivered at the event)

The case for Blue Growth: Leadership exchange

Mr Mikheil Saakashvili, Governor of Odessa oblast (no presentation available; please check the video file or the detailed minutes)

The case for Blue Growth: Leadership exchange

Mr Karmenu Vella, EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

Mr Volodymyr Kistion, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine (no presentation available; please check the video file or the detailed minutes)

Mr Andrei Galbur, Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova

Mr Georgi Pirinski, Member of the European Parliament (S&D) (no presentation available; please check the video file or the detailed minutes)

Amb. Michael Christides, Secretary-General, Secretary General, Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) (no presentation available; please check the video file or the detailed minutes)

Mr Claudiu Vrinceanu, State Secretary, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business Environment of Romania (speech)

Panel 1: Coast to coast

Mr Ivan Liptuga, Head of Tourism Development Department, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine (presentation part 1, part 2)

Mr Michael Emerson, Associate Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) (no presentation available; please check the video file or the detailed minutes)

Ms Maiia Koshman, Director of International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine (presentation)

Mr Theofil Gherca, Head of Unit, Ministry of Regional Development, Romania (presentation)

Mr Marco Digioia, Director, Government Affairs, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Europe (presentation)

Dr Adrian Stanica, Scientific Director, GeoCoMar, Romania (presentation)

Ms Elvira Leshinskaya (in Russian), Head of Unit, Tourism and Eurointergration, Odessa Region Port Administration, Ukraine (presentation)

Panel 2: Fostering Marine Research and Innovation Cooperation in the Black Sea

Mr Boris Iarochevitch, Head of Division, Eastern Partnership, Regional Cooperation and OSCE, European External Action Service (no presentation available; please check the video file or the detailed minutes)

Dr Violin Raykov, Deputy Director, International cooperation, Institute Oceanology, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Bulgaria (presentation)

Dr Cristina Sandu, Senior Researcher, Institute of Biology Bucharest, Romanian Academy; Coordinator - "Sturgeon 2020 - a program fostering research and cooperation in the NW Black Sea" (presentation)

Dr Vangelis Papathanassiou, Research Director, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, PERSEUS (presentation)

Prof Dr. Bayram Ozturk, President of the Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV) (presentation)

Mr Kostiantyn Demianenko, Deputy Director on Science, Institute of Fisheries and Marine Ecology (IFME), State Agency of Fisheries of Ukraine (presentation)

Panel 3: Investing in Blue Growth

Mr Ivane Abashidze, Head of Division, International Econ. Development, LEPL “Maritime Transport Agency”, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia (no presentation available; please check the video file or the detailed minutes)

Ms Laura Bobarnac, Deputy Head, Joint Managing Authority, Ministry of Regional Development, Romania

Mr Patrick Anvroin, Director, Balkans and Black Sea Regional Commission, CPMR

Mr Ahmet Bilici, CEO, Promatech, Professional Maritime Technologies, Turkey

Mr Guido Prud’homme, Acting Head, EIB Permanent Representation for Ukraine

Mr Nelko Yordanov, FARNET Flag manager, Shabla –Kavarna –Balchik, Bulgaria

Way forward & Closing remarks

Mr Hubert Gambs, Director, Mediterranean and Black Sea, DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission

Day 2: Support for the SMEs: Horizon 2020 SME Instrument, COSME programme, European Enterprise network

Ms Dorota Przyłudzka, Policy Officer, European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (presentation 1, presentation 2, presentation 3, presentation 4)

Dr. Olena Fesenko (in Ukrainian), Enterprise Europe Network-Ukraine consortium Coordinator (presentation)

Mr Ahmet Bilici, CEO, Promatech, Professional Maritime Technologies, Turkey (SME Instrument Phase II beneficiary) (presentation)

Ms Iryna Poplavets (in Russian), Head of Project Management Office, Institute of Human Ecology-INECO LLC (SME Instrument Phase I beneficiary) (presentation)