On 13 December, the CMA Steering Group met to stake stock of progress and discuss next steps in the implementation of the initiative.
Despite the challenges that the region has faced, this year participating countries made significant accomplishments. These include the establishment of a Technical Group on Sustainable Aquaculture, the organisation of a regional event on funding, the coordination of national events under the “CMA in my country” brand, and, last but not least, a very successful CMA Stakeholder Conference in Bucharest. All countries and regional partners agreed that the latter has been a key event for stakeholder identification and engagement.
This progress marks the end of the Romanian CMA coordination and the transition to Moldova. The upcoming Moldovan coordination will continue a cross-sea basin dialogue addressing common challenges and harnessing joint opportunities for mutual learning and exchanging good practices.
All countries presented their main priorities for 2024. Bulgaria mentioned clean waters, enhanced connectivity, and sustainability in Black Sea shipping. Georgia highlighted the importance of stakeholder engagement and stressed the need for strengthened support to funding project proposals. Romania stressed the significance of continuity and country engagement. Türkiye encouraged the group to build on ideas that emerged during conference hackathons, such as marine pollution, investment, tourism, and energy transition. Despite facing difficult challenges due to the ongoing war, Ukraine detailed its ongoing national efforts, acknowledging EU support, and expressing continuous commitment to the CMA. The EU Commission underlined the importance of building on previous achievements as a way forward, and of developing proposals and activities based on the identified priorities, such as blue skills and maritime careers. A presentation was made on funding opportunities related to this topic, including Blue careers (EMFAF calls), EU Mission Ocean (Horizon Europe calls), Blueprint (Erasmus+ calls), and the EU4Ocean coalition.
Looking at 2024, synergies with other initiatives will have to be strengthened in a regional perspective. This is the case of future work with the S3 Sustainable Blue Economy Platform, Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP), BlueInvest and many others, such as the EU Aquaculture Assistance Mechanism, GFCM, EMFAF flagship and INTERREG NEXT Black Sea calls.
Stay tuned for future CMA updates as the CMA heads into an exciting 2024, brimming with exciting opportunities for the Black Sea region.