Black Sea ENPI/CBC programme First workshop with regional partners

1. Black Sea ENPI/CBC programmeFirst workshop with regional partners Constanta, oct 23° , 2006 Ministry of European Integration Romania

2. Agenda • Description of the eligible area • SWOT analysis • Consultation on objectives and priorities • Next steps

3. The programme eligible regions Romania: Sud-Est Bulgaria: Severoiztochen, Yugoiztochen Greece: Kentriki Makedonia, Anatoliki Makedonia Thraki Turkey: Istanbul, Tekirdağ, Kocaeli, Zonguldak, Kastamonu, Samsun, Trabzon Russia: Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, Adygea republic Ukraine: Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Sevastopol, Zaporosh’ye and Donetsk Oblasts, Crimea Republic, Sevastopol Moldova, the whole country Georgia, the whole country Armenia, the whole country Azerbaijan: the whole country

4. Statistical analysis of the eligible area Sources and partners contributions: • International organizations: UN STAT, EUROSTAT, • National statistical institutions from all partner countries. • Regional institutions: specific information on environment, social structure, culture

5. SWOT analysis Methodology: • Summary of most frequent elements observed in the eligible area per partner country. • Specially consider those elements that are connected to the common constraints, and interregional interactions, in the Black Sea Basin. • Ranking of the topics identified in each category, in order to focus on the most relevant, for the future definition of most relevant objectives and priorities. • Limit to the highest ranking (5-7) elements in each part of the SWOT in order to allow focus on most important issues

6. SWOT analysis Strengths • Strategic geopolitical role and position for the new enlarged Europe, going to become the main external border area for a long period. • Natural resources: Black Sea key role for all European continent, high potential for environmental diversity preservation, tourism, and fishery. • EU gateway for energy resources trade. • Low labour costs, compared to competing areas in other countries close to the EU borders. • Rich cultural heritage and social values.

7. SWOT analysis Weaknesses • Poor quality of industrial and transport infrastructures. • Physical structure: almost closed Sea with strong environmental degradation, receiving negative impacts of human activities from far EU regions. • Historical constraints to trade and mobility of persons. • Low level of administrative capabilities for the implementation of local development policies • Scarcity of education infrastructures, and research and innovation centres.

8. SWOT analysis Opportunities • Substantial growth of GDP after 2000 in most of the Basin countries, multiplicative effects in the neighbour regions. • Large part of its coastal regions going to become EU regions, receiving strong support from the Cohesion policy and neighbourhood strategy • Improving of political and economic stability, attraction of FDI • Growth of the demand for tourist services, with potential extension of activities to all countries in the Basin. • Planned Pan European Transport Axis, and petrol and gas pipelines

9. SWOT analysis Threats • Return to Macroeconomic instability, due to economic and political factors, like fluctuation of petrol prices, changes in macroeconomic policy choices. • Migration of most skilled workers to EU countries. • Competition from new industrializing countries in industrial development and FDI attraction • Increasing environmental degradation, due also to external and uncontrollable factors. • Increase of distance and isolation of EU-members and EU Neighbours in the Basin, due to EU custom policies, EU common market policies, labour mobility constraints

10. Objectives and priorities Objective 1: Promoting economic and social development in the border areas • 1a° Promoting education institutions networking and development • 1b CBC actions for rural development • 1c Creation of tourism networks • 1d Trade and investment promotion Objective 2:Working together to address common challenges •  2a° Addressing common challenges in the environmental sector. • 2b Research and innovation promotion in the field of environmental policies. • 2c Waste Management Objective 3: Promoting local, people-to-people type actions • 3a°  Promoting the cultural networking and exchange in the Black Sea Basin Communities. • 3b Creation of administrative capacity for local development policies

11. Objectives and priorities

12. Examples of project ideas Objective 1: Promoting economic and social development • Creation of common standards for occuption (education and qualification in tourism) • Promoting touristic potential of the Black Sea basin • Maritime highway of Black Sea basin (Black Sea ports) • Black Sea Corridor Objective 2: Common challenges • Monitoring of accidental pollution , integrated system; master plan for fighting pollution • Integrated system for monitoring pollution from waters draining into the BS basin • Biodiversity in Black Sea basin: creation of a network of biodiversity

13. Examples of project ideas • Study regarding urban waste management from major cities riparian to Black Sea • Master plan for prevention of coastal degradation in Black Sea basin • Promotion of environment quality standard in the Black Sea basin Objective 3: people to people • Identification and promotion of cultural heritage • Project “Myths of the two seas” (Black Sea-Caspian Sea)

14. Next steps for regional partners • Contribution to the finalization of the programme strategy • Identification of relevant fields of action in the framework of programme priorities • Starting contacts with Black Sea regional partners for project idea generation • Starting drafting of project ideas for project pipeline