The New Strategy Center organized a panel entitled “Pleading for a Free and Open Black Sea: Freedom of Navigation, Connectivity, Energy, and Food Security” on Thursday, October 17, on the margins of the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Forum. During the discussions, speakers assessed the strategic importance of the Black Sea, the geopolitical context in the region and the global implications of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. It also emphasized the importance of maintaining a free and open Black Sea for trade, and connectivity, with Russia’s actions jeopardizing freedom of navigation. Affecting the GPS signal of ships through electronic warfare activities, blockading of perimeters, mines, abusive inspections of ships are some of the tools Russia is using to disrupt freedom of navigation.

Another element of interest mentioned in the discussion was the Black Sea’s energy potential, which can help the states in the region to become energy independent. From 2027, Romania will become the largest gas producer in the EU, following the exploitation of gas from the Neptun Deep perimeter.
Food security was another important topic addressed during the panel, with cereals exported by Ukraine helping to ensure social stability for many countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
Speakers emphasized that there is a growing attention to the Black Sea region, which is also reflected in the intentions of several countries, such as the US and Germany.

The session was moderated by LTG (ret.) Vasile Toader, Member of the NSC Scientific Council and former Military Representative of Romania to NATO and the EU, the speakers were: George Scutaru, NSC Director General, Vice Admiral Mihai Panait, Chief of the Romanian Naval Forces, Antonia Colibășanu, NSC Associate Senior Expert & Chief Operating Officer & Senior Geopolitical Analyst, Geopolitical Futures, Kaush Arha, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council, USA, Mykhailo Samus, NSC Non-Resident Expert, Director New Geopolitics Research Network, Ukraine, Wilfried Jilge, Senior Advisor Ukraine and the wider Black Sea region, Stabilization Platform, Germany.

Also, at the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Forum, MG (ret.) Paul Hurmuz, NSC Senior Associate Expert, made a presentation on cognitive warfare in the panel “Forward Resilience: The EU and NATO neighborhood fighting malign foreign influences”.