Security Forum: Experience Sharing between Baltic and Black Sea Regions

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Ukraine, the Finnish Committee for European Security STETE and the Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation PAUCI organized on September 10-12, 2008 in Kyiv a Security Forum to discuss possibilities to transfer experiences from the Baltic Sea region and the Northern Dimension of EU foreign policy into the Black Sea Region. As a result of the conference, participants confirmed that Baltic experiences should be used intensively to develop concrete projects within the framework of Black Sea Synergy. Especially successes with bottom-up project development as well as thematic leadership and responsiblity by individual countries were considered to be models for future Black Sea cooperation. Furthermore, the participants showed great interest in discussing successful Northern Dimension projects with stable interest and participation by the Russian Federation. The experience from the Baltic region also shows clearly that it is of crucial importance to start Black Sea Synergy with maybe small scale and politically modest - but successfully implemented projects. This report collects key quotes and impressions from the conference.