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EVENIMENTE TRANSMISE | LIVE EVENTS

Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum- Ziua 2 / Day 2

• Bucharest Venue
  • Transmisiune live / Live coverage – ?? (RO) | ?? (EN)
• Danube Venue
  • Transmisiune live / Live coverage – ?? (RO) | ?? (EN)

 

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Panel VI – Morning Special Session. What Does the Fall of Afghanistan Mean for the USA, NATO and EU?

The second day of the Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum 2021 began with a special panel that addressed the issue of withdrawal from Afghanistan and what it means for the US, NATO and the EU. Moderated by Antonia Colibășanu, analyst of Geopolitical Futures – USA, the discussion was joined by the following speakers: Harlan Ullman, Senior Advisor, Atlantic Council, USA, General (Ret.) Sir James Everard, former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR), Ambassador Pierre Andrieu, former Ambassador of France to Tajikistan, France, Charles Powell, Director of the Elcano Institute, Spain and Murat Yeșiltaș, Director of the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), Turkey.

The debate benefited from a rich set of perspectives, ranging from how US domestic issues outweigh the importance of withdrawing from Afghanistan among the general public to the need for strategic European autonomy. The panelists’ expertise outlined a complicated geopolitical picture, highlighting how the Afghanistan issue involves a multitude of actors in addition to those in the Atlantic euro area, each with their own perspectives, identities and interests. The Afghan crisis will have deep ramifications worldwide. Some estimates take into account the generation of a new wave of refugees to Europe, as well as the risk of a new impetus for transnational terrorism.

Panel VII – Challenges and Opportunities in the Post-Pandemic World

The second day of the panel approached the challenges and opportunities of the post-pandemic world. The moderator of this panel was ambassador Sorin Ducaru, Honorary Chairman of the Scientific Council, and Director of the European Union Satellite Centre. During this panel, H.E. Bogdan Aurescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and H.E. Gordan Grlić Radman, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Croatia, had interventions.

The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated pre-existing fractures in global architecture, and only rule-based multilateralism can restore a predictable geopolitical environment. At regional level, the Eastern Partnership and integration of the Western Balkans should be at the top of the European agenda, as the European project cannot be complete without a secure periphery. Such a political integration must be accompanied by adequate physical infrastructure, capable of encouraging economic and societal development, which is why initiatives such as the Three Seas Initiative are crucial for stimulating regional cooperation and convergence with Western states.

 
Panel VIIIa – Security and Prosperity. Future Infrastructure for a Safer Region

The „Security and Prosperity Future Infrastructure for a Safer Region” panel discussed the importance of infrastructure development and its role in ensuring the security and prosperity of the region. Moderated by Antonia Colibășanu, Analyst at Geopolitcal Futures, the panel was joined by the following speakers: Ionel Scrioșteanu, State Secretary, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Gordon “Skip” Davis, former Deputy Assistant Secretary General, Defense Investment Division, NATO, Ambassador Mihnea Motoc, Deputy Head, European Political Strategy Center, European Commission and former Minister of National Defense, Lieutenant-General (ret.) Ben Hodges, CEPA – USA, General (ret.) Gheorghe Savu, Director, Damen Naval Romania, and Cătălin Podaru, General Manager, Leviatan, Romania.

The debate emphasized the importance of developing transport infrastructure and how it is a basic requirement for NATO to strengthen its resilience in times of crisis. The current security environment is made up of a multitude of threats that add to the traditional ones: cyber attacks, potential disruptions to energy supply, climate change, pandemics. Mitigating these threats requires effective civilian-military interaction. As a result, military mobility must be a priority for the states in the region, as investments in infrastructure are beneficial for both security and trade development.

 

Panel VIIIb – European Research and Development for Defence. Opportunities for the Future

Simultaneously, another debate focused on the relation between the industrial capabilities and the research and development efforts within the European Defense context. The panel was moderated by Liviu Coșereanu, member of the Scientific Council, New Strategy Center. Speakers on this panel were Major General Teodor Incicaș, Chief of the General Directorate for Armaments, Ministry of National Defence, Gustaf Winroth, Policy Officer, European Defence Fund, Cyrille Bret, Development Director, Naval Group, Cristian Sfichi, Manager for Defence, Thales Romania, Cătălin Nae, General Director National Institute of Aerospace Research „ELIE CARAFOLI” – INCAS.

The discussion focused on the EU’s key instruments for strengthening Europe’s defense capabilities. Important instruments are coordinated research and development efforts, in particular the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), an effort to structurally integrate Member States’ armed forces, and the European Defense Fund (EDF), whose main aim is to encourage a military-industrial competitive base. The discussion also highlighted how these tools facilitate the consolidation of a high level of excellence in innovation and cooperation through the development of state-of-the-art technologies in the naval and terrestrial fields, in aerospace and digital security industries.

 

Panel IXa – One Year and a Half of Coping with the Pandemic. Has Health Care Become a Strategic Component of the National and International Security Environment?

The first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic were analyzed in the panel “One Year and a Half of Coping with the Pandemic. Has Health Care Become a Strategic Component of the National and International Security Environment?” This was moderated by Dan Iliescu, Rector of the Ovidius University in Constanța, Romania, and was joined by the following experts: Cristian Bușoi, Chairman, Commitee on Industry, Research and Energy, EU Parliament, Raed Arafat, State Secretary, Head of the Emergency Department, Andrei Baciu, State Secretary, Ministry of Health, Daniel Ioniță, Cyber Security Manager, Cymed/Infoworld, Romania.

The panel addressed the main issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The onset of the pandemic highlighted the risks of outsourcing the production of primary materials needed for refining final medicine in some countries. The dangers that national health systems will face in the future duet o increased life expectancy and demographic contraction were underlined. In the last part of the discussion, the guests showed how the pandemic acted as a catalyst for digitization, accelerating a wide range of processes, from the installation of new equipment to the exchange of staff between hospitals. Digital technologies have the potential to fundamentally transform the healthcare system through increased operability and real-time data processing. All these benefits also bring a whole new set of systemic and individual dangers. In addition to patients’ personal data, dependence on digital technologies means that cyber attacks can have massive disruptive effects, with devastating effects for patients.

 

Panel IXb – The US Defense Industry, East-Central Europe and Industrial Cooperation. A Partnership for a More Resilient Economy in the Region

In parallel, another debate focused on the involvement of the American military industry in Central and Eastern Europe. The discussion was moderated by Lieutenant General (ret.) Cătălin Moraru, former Deputy Head of the Armament Department of the Romanian Ministry of Defense. The speakers of this panel were: Daniel Bedoya, Regional Development Director of Lockheed Martin, Silviu Grecu, General Manager of Romaero, Adam Hodges, from Boeing Defense, Space and Security and Paul Strebel, Director of International Business Development, Oshkosh Defense.

Among the various views of European states on the issue of EU strategic autonomy, the present speakers agreed that European and Transatlantic Security are inseparable. One of the pillars of the transatlantic relationship is the already existing and ever-evolving cooperation between the military industrial complexes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, a cooperation described as a lasting partnership that benefits both parties. Romania’s commitment in relation to American partners results from involvement in various projects with big profile companies from the US.

Panel Xa – Building Resilience in the Balkans. Old and New Challenges for the Region

The panel „Building Resilience in the Balkans. Old and New Challenges for the Region” was moderat by ambassador Gheorghe Magheru, member of the Scientific Council of New Strategy Center. Speakers within this panel were Daniel Markić, Director, Security Intelligence Agency, Croatia, ambassador Victor Jackovich, first US ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, former US ambassador to Slovenia, US, Yordan Bozhilov, President, Sofia Security Forum, Bulgaria, Major General Cristian Bizadea, Deputy Director, Romanian Intelligence Service.

The Western Balkans are a sensitive area of the European continent, an area marked by ethnic conflicts that can degenerate into a context affected  by economic, social, and political vulnerabilities. The region is crucial for European stability and can only thrive through a complex and multilevel approach, based on solidarity and collaboration at all levels, from the political sphere, to academia and intelligence services.

Panelul Xb – Connectivity, Cyber Security and 5G Challenges

The debate “Connectivity, Cyber Security and 5G Challenges”, was moderated by Marcel Foca, Senior Expert, New Strategy Center. The panel benefitted from the expertise of Ambassador Sorin Ducaru, Honorary Chairman of the Scientific Council of New Strategy Center and Director of the European Union Satellite Centre, Christian-Marc Liflander, Head of the NATO Cyber Defence Section, Estonia, Vlad Stoica, President of the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM), Brigadier General Anton Rog, Director of the National CyberInt Center of Romanian Intelligence Service, Rene Summer, Director Government & Industry Relations, Ericsson, Sweden, and Timo Koster, former ambassador-at-large for security policy and cyber for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The panel mainly addressed the strategic challenges of the close future, issues created by the rapid technological progress that characterizes this era. Issues such as the implementation of 5G and cyber attacks were on the top of the agenda. Moreover,  the way that Romania and NATO will be able to maintain its resilience and adapt to these new strategic environments was also a focus of the discussion. As cyber security and space security become important considerations in an age of increased connectivity, not only NATO and its members, but also non-state actors such as corporations and NGOs must play their part in tackling the challenges of the future.

 Panel XI. Post-Pandemic Word and International (In)Security.

The debate “Post-Pandemic Word and International (In)Security” was moderated by Ambassador Doru Costea, Senior Associate Expert of New Strategy Center. Charles Powell, Director of the Elcano Royal Institute, Ambassador Elena Poptodorova, Vice President of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria and former Ambassador of Bulgaria to the USA, Harlan Ullman, Senior Advisor for Atlantic Council, George Friedman, Chairman of Geopolitical Futures, Ambassador Teodor Meleșcanu, member of the Scientific Council of New Strategy Center and former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Christopher Coker, Director of LSE IDEAS, were speakers on this panel.
The discussion started with the observation that the pandemic was not so much a game-changer, but more of an accelerator of already existing trends. Essentially, International Relations have not been substantially modified: the US is still the world’s greatest power and the international system is still defined by the US-China rivalry that consumes the multilateral order. The future role of the EU, however, is unclear – among its options are: siding with either Washington or Beijing, achieving strategic autonomy, or disintegration. At the same time, many other global problems remain unsolved: climate change, the handling of cyber security and the role of social media. What did change, however, was the optimism and faith in democracy and liberalism that characterized the 1990s. The lessons to be learned from the Fall of Afghanistan and the role played by the US has also been thoroughly discussed.

Panel XII. Challenges of the New Generation Warfare. Multi-Dimensional Approaches in the Post-Pandemic Strategic Environment

The last panel of the Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum 2021 was chaired by Greg Melcher, Chief Operations Officer, Center for the Study of New Generation Warfare, USA. The panel benefitted from the contribution of the the following speakers. Simona Cojocaru, State Secretary, Ministry of National Defence, Romania, Guillaume Ollagnier, Head of Division for Europe, America & Multilateral action, Ministry of Defence, France, Lieutenant General Stephan Thomas, Commander, DEU Elements MN Corps/Basic Military Organisation, Land Forces, Germany, Major General Iulian Berdilă, Chief of Land Forces, Romania and Karsten Friis, Senior Research Fellow, Head of Research Group on Security and Defense, The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI).

The panel analyzed the new generation warfare and the means to prepare for the challenges of the future. A great emphasis was placed on emerging technologies and the changing nature of war, which is changing into continuous low-intensity conflict that stops short of actual military involvement.

The organizers thank you for your participation and interest and invite you to continue supporting the New Strategy Center projects!