1. “The economic crisis in the wider Black Sea area: Challenges and perspectives” Eftychia Bacopoulou Secretary General BSEC BUSINESS COUNCIL

2. The Business Council of the Organisation of the Black Sea Cooperation BSEC BUSINESS COUNCIL The BSEC Business Council was established in 1992, as the main institution representing the inter-business dimension of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

3. BSEC BUSINESS COUNCIL is one of BSEC four related bodies its International Secretariat is located in Istanbul it is considered to be an international non-governmental organization according to its Statute the Members of its Board of Directors are the BSEC Member States, through the national organizations, officially appointed to this purpose

4. BSEC BUSINESS COUNCIL promotes and facilitates the private sector of the BSEC Member States: a) providing business facilitation services for doing business in the region through extended information mechanism b) contributing to the intra-BSEC dialogue towards the enhancement of the regional cooperation c) expanding the cooperation with national, regional and international governmental and non governmental organizations and initiatives for further networking, joint actions and coordination 4

5. BSEC BUSINESS COUNCIL promotes and facilitates the private sector of the BSEC Member States: d) promoting the public-private cooperation, though increasing the advisory role of the BSEC Business Council and activating the dialogue between the government and the business at regional level e) supporting and facilitating the small-medium enterprises f) promoting the public-private partnerships (PPP) with emphasis in the major infrastructure projects of the area 5

6. the current financial crisis and its great impact in the world and the region requires: reconsidering the whole strategy on the regional economic development in the wider Black Sea area.

7. However the economic crisis meets the opportunity for changing “regional approach” as a key point for recovery

8. Regional cooperation schemes and namely BSEC could be used: as policy dialogue platforms for enhancing and coordinating the governments’ cooperation for initiatives to be undertaken and adopting policies to promote recovery, through improvement of the competitiveness and productivity for mobilizing both governments and business communities to invest namely in the most dynamic and promising economic sectors such as transport, telecommunications, energy, trade facilitation, environment etc.

9. The “green economy” is the way to push away of the currents crisis The green economy aims at addressing the interdependence of human economies and natural ecosystem and the adverse impact of human economic activities on climate change and global warming. Main areas in which our region could explore to tackle the economic crisis are: innovation, industry and employment ecosystem economic activitiesclimate changeglobal warming Based on the rich human and natural resources our region could play an important role

10. International Secretariat Sakip Sabanci Cad. Musir Fuad Pasa Yalisi, Eski Tersane, 34460 Istanbul-Turkey Tel. +90 212 2291114, 1144 Fax: + 90212 2290332 info@bsec-business.org www.bsec-business.org info@bsec-business.orgwww.bsec-business.org BSEC BUSINESS COUNCIL

11. THANK YOU