The World Bank - Blueing the Black Sea GEF Regional project (P173890)

In support of the Common Maritime Agenda, the Blueing the Black Sea (BBSEA) Program supported by the World Bank and its partners would be aming at catalyzing blue economy investments for the Black Sea.  The initial step of building a coherent BBSEA Program is focused on the Pillar 1 “Save the Sea” that is aiming at reducing pollution in the Black Sea. Two instruments are considered for the realization of these first step: (i) PROBLUE Regional Analytical Work, executed by the World Bank (US$ 400,000) has been approved and will support national diagnostic on pollution and synthetize the results in a regional report and; (ii) the proposed GEF grant in an amount of US$ 6.4 million, financed under the International Water window. Although the proposed Project would benefit all Black Sea countries through knowledge exchange and standards building, national level activity would take place only in the four GEF eligible countries (Georgia, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine) in accordance with GEF policies in the current context of the Black Sea. The ambition of the Project would be, however, to progressively include all Black Sea countries through additional financing. The Program is an instrument to enhance synergies of the IBRD financed projects in Black Sea Countries, including amongst others the Integrated Regional and Local Development Project in Georgia (P169747), the Moldova Water Security and Sanitation Project (P173076), theTurkey Integrated Landscapes Management Project (P172562) and the Assessment for Climate Change Impact Opportunities, and Priorities for Ukraine (P171986) and the Blue Economy policy notes in Bulgaria (P167719) and in Russia (P171509).

Click here to find more details on the BBSEA programm supported by the World Bank.

Click here to find further information of the  BBSEA Regional Project

Click here to find more details on the Blueing the Black Sea GEF Regional Project

National Consultations

The Permanent International Secretariat of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC PERMIS) has been invited to act as the Executing Entity of the “Blueing of the Black Sea” Regional Project (BBSEA) supported by the World Bank. The project is funded by the Global Environmental Facility and aims at tackling marine pollution and catalyzing blue economy investments in the Black Sea region. This way, it will practically help Black Sea riparian countries substantiate their efforts in advancing a shared vision for a sustainable and better valued Black Sea backed by concrete projects, as stipulated in the 2019 Common Maritime Agenda.

To prepare the BBSEA, BSEC PERMIS is planning a series of national consultations in the Black Sea riparian countries, incl. the Republic of Moldova, to introduce the planned action, build partnerships with key institutional and private stakeholders at national level and seek critical inputs on the project architecture. The specific objective of the consultations consists in consulting the respective stakeholder communities (institutional, business, academia and civil society) working on marine pollution on the state of play, pressing issues and priorities related to pollution prevention, reduction and the control in the Black Sea, as well as the opportunities that result in the process. The results of the consultations will inform the architecture and implementation modalities of a planned “Blueing of the Black Sea” regional project.