”Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy, in partnership with the Harvard University and with the participation of the National Intelligence University (USA), organized the third edition of the program called ”Security in the Black Sea Region. Common Challenges, Sustainable Future”

The event was attended by more than 90 personalities, lecturers and participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Great Britain, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, the United States of America, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine, alongside European Union and NATO high officials.

The third edition of the international training program called ”Security in the Black Sea Region. Common Challenges, Sustainable Future” (SBSR), organized by the ”Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy, in partnership with the Harvard University and with the participation of the National Intelligence University (USA), was held between May 30 and June 4 2016.

Held under the high patronage of the Romanian Presidential Administration, SBSR takes over and develops the philosophy, the mission and the objectives of the Black Sea Security regional program initiated by the Harvard University in 1997. The current program aims at promoting the responsibility and initiative of the regional players in approaching security challenges specific to the Black Sea area. This year’s edition was dedicated to the theme called ”Types of Convergent Power in the Black Sea Region. Strong Thinking, Intelligent Action”, which focused primarily on the dynamics of the balance between hard power and soft power.

Thus, SBSR sets as its main objective the exchange of innovative ideas and best practices in the effective management of regional risks and threats, by developing a common knowledge pool which reports to the new regional risk factors.

The opening ceremony of the training program, which was hosted by the Romanian Presidential Administration at the Cotroceni Palace, was attended by Mr. Klaus Johannis, the Romanian President, Mr. Sergey Konoplyov, Director of the Eurasia Security Program within the Harvard University, Mr. Eduard Hellvig, Director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, Mr. Ioan Mircea Pascu, Vice-chairman of the European Parliament, Mr. Daniel Ionita, State Secretary within the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Major General Ion Grosu, Deputy Director of the Romanian Intelligence Services, as well as representatives of other public institutions, diplomatic missions, businessmen and members of national and international academic entities.

This year’s edition of the SBSR brought together remarkable personalities of the academic environment, with strong expertise in the field of security studies, whose presentations focused on identifying both soft, hard and smart power mechanisms, and power projection patterns in the extended Black Sea region. Present in a record number for the SBSR editions, the participants displayed a diverse range of political, academic and diplomatic perspectives, highlighting relevant aspects for the regional security.

The training program included a strategic exercise, during which the participants had to identify the major elements that led to the current power configuration in the region, as well as the elements that might trigger major changes in the near future, as well as the development of a strategic regional vision.