CCMS Director Dr Margarita Stancheva took participation at ICBSS - BSEC - DG MARE online Workshop on “How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected Blue Economy in the Black Sea region? Potential response actions” on Tuesday 16 June 2020. The Workshop was organized by the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS), the Organization for the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and the EU Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), in cooperation with the Bulgarian Coordination of the Common Maritime Agenda.
Under the moderation of Mr. Stavros KALOGNOMOS, Executive Secretary, Balkan and Black Sea Commission (BBSC), Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), distinguished panelists, Mr. Christos ECONOMOU, Head of Unit Sea-basin Strategies, Maritime Regional Cooperation and Maritime Security, DG MARE, Mr. Peter JANECH, Senior Officer, Department for Europe UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Ms. Nadezhda BUHOVA, Director of European Coordination and International Relations Directorate and Coordinator of the Steering Group on the Common Maritime Agenda, Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications of the Republic of Bulgaria, and Mr. Konstantin PETROV, GFCM Subregional Coordinator for the Black Sea, exchanged views on the initial impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on key sectors of the Blue Economy in the Black Sea region, i.e. coastal and maritime tourism, maritime transport, fisheries and aquaculture.
Particular attention was paid on the identification of the potential response actions, also through the regional framework provided by the Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea, a unique framework of regional cooperation for the Black Sea region.
From his side, on behalf of DG MARE, Mr. Christos ECONOMOU commented on the timely organisation of the workshop, as the covid-19 crisis affected human and economic activities and to this end, it is important to continue joining forces in order to respond to this crisis. He underlined the significance of existing frameworks like the Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea, or the EU Green Deal, which provide priorities but also, recommendations to mitigate effectively the impact. As Mr. Economou noted as a key message, “the target now is sustainable Blue economy”.
For further information, follow the Press Release!