To our participants

The 2019 edition of the Security in the Black Sea Region. Shared challenges, sustainable future Program (SBSR) is aimed to bring together in an interactive and collaborative format – including lectures, debates, applied scenario making and problem solving exercises – policy makers, academia, security experts and foreign affairs officials from the Black Sea Region and their strategic partners.

The SBSR program is organised under the high patronage of the Romanian Presidential Administration, by the Romanian Intelligence Service’s “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy, in partnership with Harvard University and the National Intelligence University (NIU), US.

To maximize output and valuable interactions between participants and experts in the field, this year’s edition will be organized as a back-to-back event with the Black Sea and Balkans Forum to be held in Constanta, Romania, during June 13-14, 2019.

Theme

The 2019 edition of the international program – The New Great Game – Connecting the Black Sea and the Balkans, will aim to evaluate the current situation in the Black Sea Region and the Balkans to identify the main challenges faced by the countries in these two regions in terms of security, stability and sustainable partnerships. The program will focus, therefore, on setting the scene to better understand current security, social and economic evolutions in the two regions and on collectively analyzing and generating options for policy recommendations. The main goal of the SBSR Program is to facilitate in the participants a transformative vision, turning challenges into opportunities for shared growth. The social, economic, political, cultural and security issues at stake for resilient sustainable partnerships in the region are also brought into focus. The program is aimed to bring together, in an interactive and collaborative format, policy makers, security experts and foreign affairs officials from the Black Sea Region, the Balkans and their strategic partners. The Program will include lectures, debates, problem solving exercises and a policy analysis exercise (PAE).

Looking Ahead

All participants in the program will become part of a distinguished community of alumni and platform where ideas are debated, strategies are created and innovation is encouraged. They will also have the chance to become in their turn speakers in the program and therefore influence the vision and developed of the next generation of experts, practitioners and policy makers sharing a common vision for the development of the Black Sea Region.

 Program structure

The program is traditionally opened by the Presidency of Romania in a special ceremony and it includes:

  • a welcome panel;
  • two open access roundtables dedicated to: “EU’s/NATO’s perspectives on the Black Sea Region and the Balkans”;
  • lectures and debates focused on the (1) political dimensions, (2) economic connectivity, (3) social & cultural bridges, (4) shared security challenges of the Black Sea Region and the Balkans;
  • parallel problem solving exercise sessions on the topic: “Cooperation, Problem Solving and Policy Planning in the Black Sea Region and the Balkans”.