n the 4th of September, 2013, Ms Valentina Albu participated at the 6th edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum, ”Building Sustainable and Effective Regional Cooperation”, held in Bucharest.
The Black Sea NGO Forum is an annual event which aims to create an open space for debate, mutual knowledge and understanding, communication and cooperation among civil society representatives, Governments and international organizations active in the wider Black Sea region, with a focus on sharing good practices in various domains and success stories of regional cooperation.
Since its first edition, the Forum has reunited more than 600 participants from NGOs working in various activity areas, experts and government representatives from the region: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, the Republic of Moldova, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania and Russia.
The 6th edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum explored the ways in which civil society can contribute to the sustainability and effectiveness of regional cooperation in the extended Black Sea area, as well as offer the opportunity to share experience and good practices with other regional cooperation initiatives such as those of the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. During the opening session, H.E. Nicolae Idu, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Romania underlined the importance of cooperation and the involvement in the Black Sea Synergy programme, while as H.E. Ambassador Traian Chebeleu, Deputy Secretary General of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) stressed the important input of NGOs for the enhanced development within the BSEC partnership. During the second panel the complementarity and differences between the Black Sea NGO Forum and the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum were explored by the guest speakers such as Razvan Rusu, Director General for Regional Affairs, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and supported the civil society’s engagement for the Black Sea region.
The Forum was organized by FOND Romania with financial backing from the European Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania.