A 2020 Vision for the Black Sea

On May 17, 2010, the Commission on the Black Sea launched its final report A 2020 Vision for the Black Sea Region.

The Report provides a set of eight recommendations each of which contains the seeds of more detailed proposals and frameworks aimed at ensuring that the Black Sea region becomes one of peace, security, stability, sustainable development, innovation, and prosperity by harnessing the potential of its peoples. The Report also clearly suggests that focussing on regional cooperation and development without addressing the resolution of the various conflicts will not make the region sustainable.

The Commission on the Black Sea is a civil society initiative, jointly developed and launched in January 2009 by the German Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh; the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (BST - GMFUS), Bucharest; the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), Ankara; and the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS), Athens. The Commission was formed to suggest ways for this potentially important but volatile region to move in the direction of cooperation and collaboration. It was formed to provide policy-oriented research on the challenges and opportunities of the Black Sea region and to suggest ways to secure its peace and prosperity.