BLACK SEA STORIES – BUCHAREST STARTS THE DIALOGUE IN THE BLACK SEA REGION
de Ana Ilie
Translated by Sorin Balan

Jurnalul National, Romania
June 6 2006

The Black Sea Forum, initiated yesterday in Bucharest, which unites
representatives of all the riparian countries and of the international
organizations, was supposed to be the “beginning of a dialogue between
civilizations”, according to Traian Basescu.

Yesterday, Bucharest hosted the Summit for the initiation Black
Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership, an event that brought
together Presidents, External affairs Ministers, representatives of
international organizations and many journalists. Like everything that
is new, the Forum came with many hopes, but they can only become true
if the summit in Bucharest manages to start a real interest in it.

Despite a controversial beginning, mainly because of Russia (which
was quite skeptical about the summit and chose to be represented
only by its Ambassador in Bucharest), the summit should have produced
effervescent ideas and dialogues regarding certain issues that were
supposed to result in a better collaboration between the riparian
countries and in a long term security, stability and prosperity of
the region.

BIG WORDS

Actually, all the participants aware of the opportunities the Black
Sea is offering and of the Romanian initiative of building this Forum
have said big words like “prosperity”, “benefits”, “common history”.

“Today’s event is a step forward in the process of consolidation
of a prosper and developed Black Sea region”, the Romanian External
Affairs Minister, Razvan Ungureanu said. “The United States support the
efforts for the creation of a more prosper, more free and a safer Black
Sea region”, Jack D. Crouch, America’s representative to the Forum,
the former USA Ambassador in Romania, the current deputy adviser of
President George W. Bush, added.

EXPECTATIONS

One of the hopes regarding this Forum targets the appearance of
certain environments to help solving regional issues. According to
Traian Basescu, the controversial Nagorno-Karabah enclave was the
cause of the negotiations between Armenian President Robert Kocharian
and Azerbaijan President Iilham Aliyev for two days. There is another
issue with many hopes. It regards the Tansnistrian area and it will be
taken into consideration after the forum when President Traian Basescu
intends to show a 100% Romanian solution to Moscow and Chisinau.

All the participants seemed to agree upon one subject, the economical
collaboration, especially the alternative transportation routes for
energy, routes that should stop the appearance of a second European
“war of gas”. One of the few certain issues regarding yesterday’s
meeting was the announcement made by the US Marshall Fund, which
created the Black Sea Fund that should help financing the projects
for the consolidation of democracy, good governing and the ones for
the development of the regional cooperation and of the civil society
in the Black Sea region.

20M USD FOR THE FUND

During the Summit of the Forum for the Black Sea Dialogue and
Partnership, the United States Marshal Fund announced the initiation
of the Black Sea Fund (BSF) that should help financing the projects
for the consolidation of democracy, good governing and the ones for
the development of the regional cooperation and of the civil society
in the Black Sea region. The Marshall Fund allowed 20 million USD for
the initiation and started up negotiations with the USAID, with the
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, with the Romanian Government and with
other private and public donors in USA and Europe in order to support
this initiative. “The Black Sea region is vital in order to ensure long
term stability, security and peace in Europe, the United Stated and
in the Euro-Atlantic Alliance. The Black Sea Fund will help ensuring
progress in the region at local, national and international level”,
Craig Kennedy, the President of the Marshall Fund, stated according to
a public statement sent to Jurnalul National. A two million USD annual
fund will be available for grants between 1,000 and 75,000 USD. They
will be offered to NGOs, local and regional authorities, media and
education institutions in the countries that took part in the Summit
of the Forum for the Black Sea Dialogue and Partnership (Armenia,
Azerbaidjan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldavian Republic, Romania, Russia,
Turkey and Ukraine), according to the same public statement. The same
source says the BSF will become operational by the end of this year.