New Strategy Center, in partnership with the Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) from Poland and the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) from Turkey, organized a conference on Wednesday, April 21, on the sidelines of the trilateral meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Romania, Poland and Turkey, which will take place on April 22, in Bucharest. The event addressed issues of common interest to the three states, especially in the context of NATO’s Eastern Flank security challenges and the international situation posed by the pandemic.
In the opening of the online conference “Security Challenges from the Baltic to the Black Sea Region. Vision of Romania, Poland and Turkey” spoke H.E. Mr. Bogdan Aurescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Romania and H.E. Mr. Zbigniew Rau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Poland, and H.E. Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu sent a video message. The first part of the conference was moderated by Ambassador Doru Costea, Senior Associate Expert of the New Strategy Center and was broadcasted via livestreaming on the Facebook and YouTube page of the New Strategy Center.
The second part of the conference focused on the theme of defence, deterrence and resilience from the Black Sea region to the Baltic area, including the Polish, Turkish and Romanian perspective of renowned experts. The panel took place under the Chatham House rule and was not public. It was moderated by Wojciech Konończuk, Deputy Director of the Center for Eastern Studies (OSW), the speakers being Ms. Justyna Gotkowska, Program Coordinator, OSW, Mr. Muhittin Ataman, Director for Foreign Policy Studies, SETA and Ambassador Cristian Diaconescu, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of the Scientific Council of the New Strategy Center. The conclusions of the event were presented by Mr. Murat Aslan, SETA Researcher.
The entire Eastern Flank of NATO, and especially the Black Sea region, is subject to major security challenges, exacerbated by the pandemic. That is why this format of consultations at the level of the three important NATO states is an absolutely necessary step in this context, in order to increase the capacity to deter growing threats and the resilience of NATO member states and partners in the Baltic and Black Sea areas.
The initiative of New Strategy Center, the Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Poland and the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in Turkey is part of the NSC’s efforts to strengthen the dialogue on issues of strategic interest at expert level.