EMD 2022, the annual EU meeting point on maritime affairs and sustainable blue growth, and the place where ‘Ocean Leaders Meet’, will take place in Ravenna, Italy on 19 & 20 May 2022. As every year, this will not be the only action to celebrate our seas and oceans. EMD In My Country 2022 events will also take place all over Europe from 1 April till 31 October 2022.  

In 2021, EMD In My Country - despite the pandemic - was a great success, with 232 virtual, physical and hybrid events, organised in 25 countries (21 EU and 4 non-EU countries), covering all the sea basins of the EU making an absolute record in the history of the European Maritime Day! 

Are you ready to submit your event(s) for 2022?

Fill in the application form before 31 January 2022 and bring European Maritime Day 2022 to your country.  

All the organisers will receive sustainable #EMD In My Country-branded gadgets and their events will be promoted via the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries' information channels. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over, EMD In My Country 2022 will include physical, virtual and hybrid events that will take place from 1 April to 31 October 2022. 

2022 will be the European Year of Youth, so we welcome plenty of events with a focus on youth activities. 

Submit your application

Deadline: 31 January 2022. 

BRIDGE-BS is launching a novel Blue Growth Ph.D. program, with dual supervision, for the first time, from both the Black Sea and Western Europe institutions. This Ph.D. program will also ensure the transfer of expertise and knowledge between regions, serving as incubators and ideas for future start-ups. It will not only create mobility and enhance the capacity of the Black Sea Ph.D. candidates in Blue Growth but will also provide the best relations between universities and research centers from the Black Sea with similar organizations in Europe.

BRIDGE-BS offers Ph.D. research positions directly supported by the BRIDGE-BS consortium for 3 years (36 months). BRIDGE-BS partners in the Black Sea offer Ph.D. positions at their institutions.

You can find information about current Ph.D. positions and application requirements under BRIDGES in the document on the button below. Please apply to the vacancies by sending your application to bridgebs@ims.metu.edu.tr within the given deadlines. Please be aware that there are different deadlines for different institutions

For more details read here and for application details click this link! 

Dont lose the third Newsletter of CONNECT Black Sea project, implementing the SRIA - boosting the Blue Growth in the region!

You can find the Newsletter here and you can subscribe to receive Black Sea CONNECT's newsletters in this link!

Enjoy reading!

The updated version of the Interreg NEXT Black Sea Basin Programme 2021-2027 was published for public consultation on the Programme website at the following link: https://blacksea-cbc.net/public-consultation-on-the-updated-version-of-the-interreg-next-black-sea-basin-programme-2021-2027/

There have been accommodated the suggestions received from the Programme partners during the previous consultation process in September – October 2021, which brought added value to the draft Programme. The document also includes the indicative financial allocations of the Programme and the horizontal aspects which will be tackled during the 2021-2027 programming period. Following this last round of consultation, the final version of the Programme will be presented for the approval of the Joint Programming Committee.

All interested bodies and persons are invited to send suggestions aimed at improving the document to the following email address: blacksea-cbc@mlpda.ro, by 31st of January 2022.

Tourism Institute published two articles in famous Georgian media outlets.

The one, “Batumelebi”, is the prominent online media in Adjara region and the another, BM.GE, is one of the best business oriented media in Georgia. The published content aimed at raising the awareness of the project T4BS in Georgia.

Articles explained the digital tools and reasoning behind the T4BS. It showed that the project aimed at assessing coastal tourism not only from the angle of economic indicators, but also analyzing environmental, social and cultural aspects of life by employing digital tools and big data. It depicted that normal practice of tourism assessment from the economic point of view prevents holistic evaluation of tourism sustainable development in Georgia. That is why the TIM - Slovenian model of tourism impact evaluation is in the process of implementation in the country. This will help Georgia to know where the destination stands on sustainability point of view and where is the right path to go in the future.

At the end articles promoted the high level forum on “Tourism, Digitalisation and Sustainable development for the Black Sea” which took place on the 18th of November 2021 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The European Commission has approved an investment package of more than €290 million for 132 new projects under the LIFE programme for the Environment and Climate Action.

This EU funding under LIFE will mobilise a total investment of €562 million, with actions happening in almost all EU Member States. The new LIFE projects will help Europe become  a climate-neutral continent by 2050, put Europe’s biodiversity on the path of recovery by 2030, and contribute to the EU green recovery post-Covid-19.

Find out more in the press release and in the descriptions of all the new LIFE projects.

On 11 November, #worldfisheriesDay, The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean launched a campaign that will run throughout 2022 aiming at illustrating the Mediterranean and the Black Sea fishers and fish workers involved in making small-scale fisheries more sustainable.

Called 9 topics , 9 features, the series will explore what each topic of the Regional Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (RPOA-SSF) means in practice to small-scale fishers across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and proposes to readers a deep dive into the human context of sustainability.

In 9 chapters, the plan of action details a set of specific, prescriptive and concrete actions: it’s a vehicle to the future which will set small-scale fisheries on a path to long-term environmental, economic and social sustainability around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. 

With inspiring examples from the ground, 9 topics, 9 features brings to life fishers, fish workers and projects.

Two topics were already launched : Breaking free of traditional value chain and Redressing the gender balance.

Stay tuned for more in 2022, declared International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022) by the United Nations.

The first “CulTourE4Youth” Workshop was held successfully in Mersin, organized by the Middle East Technical University Institute of Marine Sciences (METU-IMS) on 30 November 2021. The Workshop gathered together young entrepreneurs of ages 18 to 30 in the field of maritime and cultural tourism, representatives of international institutions, academicians, regional authorities, business operators and training institutions.

Preliminary Analysis has been conducted to assess challenges and priorities for youth entrepreneurship in cultural tourism, available here. Additionally, an online questionnaire has been launched to gather input from stakeholders and young people from the Black Sea Region, available here.

The Project’s Final Conference will be held in Batumi, on 17 February 2022, organized by the project partner CPMR Balkan and Black Sea Commission (BSC).

EMD 2022, the annual EU meeting point on maritime affairs and sustainable blue growth, and the place where ‘Ocean Leaders Meet’, will take place in Ravenna, Italy on 19 & 20 May 2022. As every year, this will not be the only action to celebrate our seas and oceans. EMD In My Country 2022 events will also take place all over Europe from 1 April till 31 October 2022.

Are you ready to submit your event(s) for 2022? Fill in the application form before 31 January 2022 and bring European Maritime Day 2022 to your country!!

Read more details in European Commission website

Today, the European Commission completed its proposal for the 2022 fishing opportunities in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, adopted on 17 September 2021. 

With this non-paper, the Commission has completed the elements missing from the initial proposal, in particular, fishing opportunities stemming from the decisions taken at the 44th annual session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM)Search for available translations of the preceding and elements for the implementation of the Western Mediterranean Multi-annual Management Plan (West Med MAP).

The elements complementing the Commission’s initial proposal are based on the latest scientific advice and reflect the Commission's ambition for achieving sustainable fisheries and thriving ecosystems in these two sea basins, in line with the legal obligations under the common fisheries policy (CFP) and the commitments taken at international level, reflected in the recently adopted GFCM 2030 Strategy.

You can find more details in European Commission's website and in the Commission Services non-paper .

Dear participants,

Thank you very much for your involvement in the national event dedicated to the Common Maritime Agenda "Unlocking the development potential for the Black Sea".

It was a pleasure to have you with us and we hope to collaborate as well as possible on other occasions.
 

For those who wanted, but couldn't get to the event, we inform you that the registration and other useful materials will be published on the site, at THIS LINK.
We are now working on the report of the event, so you will be able to read soon about the results obtained.

If we missed something, you can write to CMA / Romanian National Hub - romania-nh@blackseablueconomy.eu - and they will get back to you with the requested information.

On behalf of the CMA / Romanian National Hub

SAVE THE DATE - 2021's Regional Stakeholder Conference for the Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea will take place on 22 November from 14:00 to 17:30 EET.

The Conference will be structured around 4 main sessions:

1. Taking stock of the achievements and looking ahead, towards projects supporting sustainable blue economy in the Black Sea;
2. Cross fertilisation across sea basins;
3. Project hackathon (with parallel sessions covering each of the CMA goals);
4. Financing project opportunities for CMA implementation.

Additional information, including the draft agenda and registration and all relevant links and documents are now available on the dedicated conference website: Click here. 

But you can also stay up to date via the BSAM's social media channels and the hashtag #BlackSeaAgenda2021.