The Panel XIVa, titled “Middle Corridor and Three Seas Initiative. Strategic Connectivity in the Current Challenging Times”, organized in partnership with the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) from Türkiye, was chaired by BG (Ret.) Hans DAMEN, a member of the International Consultative Board of New Strategy Center, reuniting notable discussants: Mr. James CARAFANO, Senior Counselor to the President and E.W. Richardson Fellow at The Heritage Foundation in the US, Ambassador Tacan ILDEM, Chairman of the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), Ms. Antonia COLIBĂȘANU, Senior Associate Expert with the New Strategy Center, and Chief Operating Officer & Senior Geopolitical Analyst at Geopolitical Futures, Mr. Kaush ARHA, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security of the Atlantic Council, and former Senior Advisor on Strategic Engagement for the United States Agency for International Development, Mr. Sorin CHINDE, Vice President Transport Division of the Grampet Group, as well as Ms. Małgorzata SAMOJEDNY the founder of The Opportunity Institute for Foreign Affairs Foundation from Poland.

Discussions concerned the East-West and North-South axis connectivity, the Three Seas Initiative, and the Middle Corridor. Specifically, it addressed the importance and issues of the Middle Corridor in the context of the war in Ukraine, the centrality of the Black Sea, the dynamics of Central and Eastern European economies, and the importance of connectivity in the process of Ukraine’s reconstruction.