The Permanent International Secretariat of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC PERMIS) and the European Commission foster joint actions with the aim to support the project implementation capacity of the BSEC Organization and its role as facilitator of dialogue and cooperation in the region.

Three important projects are being implemented, addressing three main areas of regional cooperation:

  1. Environmental protection (Black Sea React! Project - Pilot Activities on Fighting Micro Plastics and Marine Litter in the Black Sea);
  1. Tourism (Black Sea Cruise Project - Sustainable Small-Scale Cruising/Yachting in the Black Sea); 
  1. Youth Entrepreneurship (CulTourE4Youth Project - Supporting Youth Entrepreneurship in Cultural Tourism for coastal communities in the Black Sea Region)

The Grant Contract ENI/2020/421-957 was signed on 28 December 2020. The duration of the contract is 24 months and the implementation started on 1st January 2021.

Black Sea React! – Pilot innovative solutions for fighting marine litter in the Black Sea

The Black Sea React! Project aims to contribute to regional dialogue on mitigating and effectively tackling marine pollution and marine litter, while at the same time seeking innovative solutions to salient problems. The target group of the Project includes municipalities from the Black Sea littoral countries, their respective fishing communities, primary school students and young people from all the above countries.

Description of activities

  • pilot innovative and practical solutions in order to address marine litter
  • small-scale collection of old fishing nets and related marine litter in the municipality of Sariyer (Istanbul, Turkey);
  • conversion of collected nets and litter into useful items for the daily life (GAMA Recycle A.Ş.);
  • raising awareness about the issue of marine litter and specifically the recycling of plastic litter among the younger generations
  • creation of an educational school kit in the national languages of the participating countries;
  • organisation of a regional Essay Competition on marine litter prevention targeting high-school students;
  • highlighting the results of the Project and building a coalition of municipalities along the Black Sea coastline, interested to tackle marine litter locally
  • creation of a short video for awareness raising purposes in the Black Sea littoral countries;
  • organisation of a regional conference to highlight its results and encourage further pollution-preventing action in the Black Sea, based on the experience gained.

Core Partners

  • BSEC Permanent International Secretariat (BSEC PERMIS)
  • International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS)
  • Municipality of Sariyer
  • GAMA Recycle A.S.

Associated Partner

USA Consulate in Istanbul

Project duration

January 2021 – December 2022

Presentation: 

Presented at the Final Conference: "Strengthening the project implementation capacity, dialogue and cooperation in the Black Sea Region" (23 November 2022, Athens)

CLICK HERE

The Project is co-funded by the European Commission under Grant Contract ENI/2020/421-957.

BLACK SEA CRUISE – Sustainable Small-scale Cruising/Yachting

The BLACK SEA CRUISE Project aims to analyse the state of play and environmental and socio-economic potential for novel small-scale cruising/yachting models, in order to support, through a final set of recommendations, the sustainable development of the activity in the Black Sea region. 

The Project engages in structured dialogue with a target group of local and regional stakeholders (i.e. policy makers, universities and naval/maritime academies, associations of ports, business operators of cruise companies, ferries and yachts, tourism associations) to explore concrete business opportunities in the region and to identify funding avenues and support actions for promoting such models.

The three main groups of activities are being pursued, related to:

  • providing regional dimension and specificities (trends, needs, potentials) of cruising/yachting offer, incl. in terms of skills mobility and skills matching, in the Black Sea and comparing it with other EU shared sea basins;
  • table for discussion at the “public-private” dialogue workshop;
  • highlighting good practices and challenges to enrich the debate on small-scale cruising and yachting with a view to inform the governments of businesses’ needs and what best practices and actions to adopt to untap their potential-taking into consideration the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sectors and shed light on the opportunities resulting from the European Green Deal.

Description of activities

  • Preliminary (desk-based) analysis.
  • Consultations from public authorities and private market participants through technical national workshops.
  • Publication of a final analysis and a set of recommendations.
  • Final Regional Conference to present the results and set the basis for follow-up actions.

Core Partners

  • ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies
  • SML - Strategies Mer et Littoral
  • CLIMAZUL

Project duration

January 2021 – December 2022

Presentation:

Presented at the Final Conference: "Strengthening the project implementation capacity, dialogue and cooperation in the Black Sea Region" (23 November 2022, Athens)

CLICK HERE

The Project is co-funded by the European Commission under Grant Contract ENI/2020/421-957.

CulTourE4Youth Project

The CulTourE4Youth Project aims to develop a regional paradigm as capacity building initiator in order to:
- increase the knowledge and entrepreneurial culture of young people, to be able to meet market demands and identify business opportunities;
- promote sustainable coastal tourism practices to develop new products, services and processes for sustainable cultural tourism;
- motivate employers, educational institutions, policy makers and civil society, and facilitate synergies among them, to support youth entrepreneurship with concrete actions.
The activity engages with young people (18-30y.o.), government agencies, business operators and training institutions in coastal communities in the geographical area of Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, by means of analysis and consultation activities.

Description of activities
1) Preliminary (desk-based) analysis that also steps on an online questionnaire.
2) Consultations with national and regional stakeholders through local and regional workshops in Mersin (Turkey) and Batumi (Georgia).
3) Publication of a final analysis and a set of recommendations, incl. suggesting a list of possible follow-up actions.

Core Partners
- ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies
- CPMR - Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe
- METU - Middle East Technical University

Project duration
January 2021 – December 2022

Presentation:

Presented at the Final Conference: "Strengthening the project implementation capacity, dialogue and cooperation in the Black Sea Region" (23 November 2022, Athens)

CLICK HERE

The Project is co-funded by the European Commission under Grant Contract ENI/2020/421-957.