The Black Sea region is a contested neighbourhood and the subject of intense debate. This reflects the changing dynamics of the region, its complex realities, the interests of outsiders and the region’s relations with the rest of the world. Its strategic position, linking north to south and east to west, as well as its oil, gas, transport and trade routes are all important reasons for its increasing relevance.
Despite heightened interest in the area however, the region’s real priorities and needs are still being largely ignored. What is needed are regional solutions for regional problems, but how do we get them? The Commission on the Black Sea was formed to suggest ways for this increasingly important but volatile region to move in the direction of cooperation and collaboration. It was formed to provide policy-oriented research on the challenges and opportunities of the Black Sea region and to suggest ways to secure its peace and prosperity.
On May 17, 2010, the Commission on the Black Sea launched its final report “A 2020 Vision for the Black Sea Region”.
The Report provides a set of eight recommendations each of which contains the seeds of more detailed proposals and frameworks aimed at ensuring that the Black Sea region becomes one of peace, security, stability, sustainable development, innovation, and prosperity by harnessing the potential of its peoples. The Report also clearly suggests that focussing on regional cooperation and development without addressing the resolution of the various conflicts will not make the region sustainable.
The Commission is convinced that it is realistic to envisage a cohesive, developed, integrated and stable region. To do so:
• The regional actors must renounce the use of force in their political relations and respect each other’s territorial integrity, the inviolability of their borders, international treaties and the rule of law in their dealings.
• Interested outsiders must support efforts to secure good governance, the creation of interdependencies and the regionalisation of the Black Sea’s politics and economy.
• The international community must encourage cooperative efforts and confidence-building measures as well as actions in favour of the peaceful resolution of disputes.
The Commission on the Black Sea is a civil society initiative developed and launched jointly in 2009 by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), and the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS).