New Strategy Center participated in the “Forum for the Reconstruction of the Odesa Region. Strategic Horizon. Harmonization of Processes”. George Scutaru, Director General of NSC, made a presentation at the conference, highlighting the prospects for cooperation between the Odesa region and Romania in the general context of Ukraine’s reconstruction process and the country’s EU accession process.  At the moment, as a result of Ukraine’s grain exports, a logistics hub is being developed in the area of the Romanian Danube ports of Galati and Braila, and in the future we could consider a much larger logistics hub, bringing together the ports of Galati and Braila in Romania, the port of Giurgiulesti in the Republic of Moldova, and the ports of Reni and Ismail in the Odesa region of Ukraine. At the moment, Romania is the gateway to global markets for 65% of Ukraine’s exports of grain and agricultural products, making our country vital in supporting Ukraine.

At the same time, Romania can play an important role in the pre-accession phase of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, with cross-border cooperation projects between Ukraine’s neighbouring regions (Transcarpathia, Chernivtsi, Odesa) and Romania’s border counties playing an important role. This cooperation should also take into account the Republic of Moldova, which will start negotiations with Ukraine for EU accession at the same time. In this framework, the local administration and business environment of Odessa can benefit from cooperation with Romania.

On the sidelines of the Odessa event, the NSC signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Odesa Regional Development Agency, which aims to encourage cooperation between public and private entities in the Odesa region and similar entities in Romania. . Ecaterina Dadiverina, Coordinator of the NSC Department “Projects for Ukraine” is present in Odesa at this event, having meetings with several representatives of the regional administration and business environment of this region.