The Euro-Atlantic Security Center, in partnership with the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a conference on the topic “The Three Seas Initiative: connectivity, competitiveness, and security.” The event provided the opportunity for the Bulgarian public to get acquainted with the priorities of the Estonian presidency over the format, thereby generating a constructive dialogue on the future and the vision for the Initiative and the role of Bulgaria within it.
This Initiative focuses on North-South connectivity in Central and Eastern Europe and this can be the key to fully developing the region as competitive, secure, and prosperous,as a reliable and effective partner for NATO and the EU, emphasized Tsvetan Tsvetanov, President of the EASC Management Board, who moderated the discussion. He noted that the Initiative has the potential to seriously promote energy connectivity, diversification, and hence energy security of the Three Seas, to attract investors by creating transport connectivity and a secure return on investment – as it encompasses EU and NATO member states and unfolds with support by the US. The Three Seas Initiative can also make a major contribution to addressing the challenges posed by the introduction of 5G technologies, with a view to maintaining communications security through common standards at the European level.
In a video address, Ian Brzezinski, Resident Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategies and Security with the Atlantic Council, said it was important for Bulgaria to invest in the Three Seas Initiative Fund in order to benefit from the added value, which the Initiative will generate in terms ofinvestments, connectivity, and security. Brzezinski recalled Secretary of State Pompeo's announcement of a $ 1 billion US contribution to projects within the Three Seas Initiative, emphasizing that it is unacceptable for the US to demonstrate more commitment to the development of the Three Seas region than member states of the Initiative, such as Bulgaria.
Rainer Saks, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, focused on the need to harness the potential of North-South connectivity by building modern transport, energy, and digital infrastructure. He also stressed that the initiative should only be seen as an additional opportunity and not in competition to existing formats. The Initiative Fund, on the other hand, is an instrument for improving the competitiveness of the region. It is important for each country to contribute to it, because they will benefit from the dividends from the projects, regardless whether they receive funds for their own projects in proportion to the contributions they have made to the Fund.
Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Veronika Orbetsova said the conference is particularly useful because it has the potential to activateBulgaria's participation in the Initiative as a format that will contribute to the economic development of the region, including in line with the EU's cohesion goals.
Milen Lyutskanov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria said that it would be beneficial for Bulgaria if the Initiative enhanced cooperation in the Black Sea region and its connectedness.
The initiative can be a good tool for overcoming the vulnerability of the EU's periphery, which the Three Seas region to a large extent constitutes, which is important as pressure on the periphery often has an eroding effect on the core, explained Prof. Rumen Kanchev, a geopolitics and defense expert at the EASC.
Among others, the discussion was joined by representatives of the Atlantic Council of Bulgaria - General Sabi Sabev and Momchil Doichev, energy experts from the Bulgarian Energy and Mining Forum Hristo Kazandzhiev and Ivan Hinovski, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Valery Simeonov. Simeonov stressed that Bulgaria should make clear plans for its participation in the Three Seas Initiative Fund, because otherwise it risks missing out on its benefits.
The Three Seas Initiative brings together twelve member states from the region of the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Seas, aiming at a faster development of the Three Seas region through the development of transport, energy, and digital connectivity. The Initiative is gradually gaining ever more clear parameters for its functioning, priorities, and cooperation mechanisms, and has the potential to create tangible benefits for its member states, among whichBulgaria.
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