Odessa to host Black Sea Summit 5th to 6th September
In partnership with the Assembly of European Regions and the German Marshall Fund of the USA, the Odessa Regional Government will host this years’ Black Sea Summit from 5th to 6th September in Odessa.
To promote the event and raise awareness in the European Parliament of Odessa as a major transportation centre, Odessa Regional Councillors Viktor Baranskyi and Vitaliy Sautenkov held a round of meetings with MEPs in the European Parliament today. They are keen to attract Eu Member State and business involvement in the conference.
The Foundation of Mr Viktor Baranskyi and Mr Sautenkov is the main sponsor of the summit. Mr Sautenkov said “The Black Sea Summit will be held in Odessa from 5th to 6th September 2018, and will be open to participation from all businesses and regional authorities interested to develop new business projects and partnerships across the countries bordering the Black Sea and the participating countries of the EU’s Danube Strategy. It is a major forum for enterprises from Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Turkey which form the Black Sea Region, and Germany, Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia which belong to the Danube Region. The Summit will also help us to showcase the port of Odessa, and the attractions of doing business in our city as a gateway to the Black Sea and the Danube.”
Odessa was always historically an important gateway to Russia for the Western world, and is where football was first introduced to the Russian speaking word by British merchants in the 19th century.
Today it boasts 3 major international ports, Yuzhny, Illichivsk and Odessa city port, all of which have yet to achieve their full potential, but which present the region with an important status as an international maritime hub and transit station for the onward inland transportation via the Danube of international freight for distribution to the countries bordering the Danube in Central and eastern Europe.
Commenting on the importance of his visit to Brussels today , Viktor Baranskyi said, “I am here representing the Odessa Region in Ukraine, to raise awareness of the business opportunities in our Region, and to build new EU partners for our business development opportunities. Odessa is an important seaport on the Black Sea, and a gateway to the Danube for onward transportation by river to the major EU countries, from Romania to Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, and Germany. We have a dynamic and entrepreneurial business culture, and an environment that is favourable to enterprise and partnership. In particular, Odessa is strong in the energy, environment, medical and R&D sectors. We are keen to attract interest from EU Regions to partner with us on new initiatives.”
“I am also very keen to promote a business agenda that will help us to regionalise decision making and to see the delegation of more powers to local and regional government from here centre,” he went on to say.
