Economic projects at the summit of the Three Seas Initiative

Economic issues hold pride of place at the Bucharest summit of the Three Seas Initiative

Bogdan Matei, 18.09.2018, 12:23

Including 12 of the 28 EU member states, the Initiative of the Three Seas – the Black Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Baltic Sea – is one of the biggest EU forums with a strong economic vocation. The Initiative summit hosted by Bucharest on Monday was attended by nine heads of state, two parliament speakers, a prime minister and a foreign minister as well as by the president of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker. The opening Business Forum ended with the signing of a declaration on establishing the network of chambers of commerce from the 12 participating Central and East European countries. As a host, Romanias president, Klaus Iohannis, underscored the need for the Three Seas Initiative to pass on to the stage of concrete economic projects and pragmatic results. He believes that the Forum is a first step jointly made by the most dynamic EU economies towards capitalizing on the regional potential and is a good opportunity to give political support for the regional priority projects of interconnection in the energy, transport and digital fields. Klaus Iohannis:

“I firmly believe that a greater interconnectivity among the 12 participating states will contribute to increasing economic convergence and cohesion among the EU members, to deepening European integration and implicitly to the EU stability and prosperity. The future of the European Union is one of unity and cohesion and the Three Seas Initiative can make a concrete contribution to achieving this goal.

President Iohannis went on to say that an appropriate way of bridging the gap of economic development between old and new EU member states was the increase of interconnectivity in the area of the three seas. Austrias president, Alexander Van der Bellen, said that the common goal of Initiative member countries should be ensuring energy security for all European citizens and, to this end, energy sources and transport routes need to be diversified. Also attending the Bucharest summit is US Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry. Polands president, Andrzej Duda highlighted the geopolitical dimension of the Initiative. He said that both the European Union and NATO are key factors in the success of the Initiative. As all participants estimate, the Initiative has the role of contributing to consolidating the transatlantic relationship, by boosting the American economic presence in the region, as a catalyst of consolidated cooperation. As president Iohannis said, Romania is interested in maintaining an operational and robust transatlantic relationship, vital for the system of Western civilization values.

(Translated by A.M. Palcu)