The New Strategy Center presented on Wednesday, December 11 at NATO HQ in Brussels, the study “The Strategic Importance of the Black Sea: Regional Cooperation for Energy and Defense”, conducted in partnership with The Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), Türkiye and Sofia Security Forum, Bulgaria. The event was jointly organized by the three think tanks and brought together representatives and NATO member states as well as experts from the Alliance’s international structures.
The study underlines the strategic importance of the Black Sea in the context of current geopolitical challenges, the Black Sea’s energy potential and the need for regional cooperation to combat the threats facing the region, alongside NATO and EU efforts. Türkiye, Bulgaria and Romania have discovered significant gas reserves in the Black Sea offshore area, which could contribute not only to the energy independence of these countries, but of the entire region. Romania, for example, will become the EU’s biggest gas producer from 2027, by exploiting the Neptun Deep perimeter, and will also be able to help other countries in the region to escape Russia’s energy blackmail, such as Moldova.

During the presentation, George Scutaru, CEO of the New Strategy Center, drew attention to the multiple security challenges in the Black Sea area in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, especially hybrid ones, which may jeopardize the development of energy projects. Also, these threats affect the freedom of navigation, maintaining a free and open Black Sea is an important objective for regional stability, connectivity projects, energy projects, but also for global food security. Along with George Scutaru, presentations and questions were also made by Ambassador Tacan Ildem, Chairman of EDAM – Türkiye, and Yordan Bozhilov, President of SSF – Bulgaria.

A framework for cooperation on mine action already exists between Bulgaria, Romania and Türkiye, which could be extended to cooperation on critical energy infrastructure protection.
This study is the second joint endeavor of the three think tanks and reflects their commitment to raise awareness of the complex security challenges in the Black Sea region that have a global impact.

New Strategy Center is grateful to H.E. Dan Neculăescu, Romania’s Ambassador to NATO and Romania’s Permanent Delegation to NATO for their support in organizing the event.