The Three Seas Initiative is a forum of cooperation between 12 EU states around the Baltic, Adriatic & Black seas. Because of the war in Ukraine, European states are facing many challenges, making regional cooperation being more important than ever. Is the Three Seas Initiative a good format for cooperation? What has been accomplished thus far, and what are the perspectives of the forum going forward?
In this panel, Wojciech Przybylski (Editor-in-Chief of Visegrad Insight, President of the Board at the Res Publica Foundation), Amb Edgars Bondars (Ambassador for the Three Seas Initiative), Andras Braun (Program Officer at the International Republican Institute) and Laurențiu Flueraru (Foreign Policy Adviser at the Foreign Policy Department, Presidential Administration of Romania) discuss:
-Has the Three Seas Initiative been a success thus far?
-What is often underappreciated/overlooked about the 3SI?
-How do various member states view the initiative?
-What is the future of the initiative?
-What are the biggest priorities of the upcoming new leadership?
-The Initiative as a transformational project for the region
-The need for closer integration & lack of cohesion thus far
-3SI & Ukraine – integration & rebuilding after the war
Moderator: Balkan Devlen, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute
00:00 Introducing the topic & panelists
2:58 Opening statement of Wojciech Przybylski
9:53 Opening statement of Amb Edgars Bondars
14:10 Opening statement of Andras Braun
21:51 Opening statement of Laurențiu Flueraru
28:15 How could 3SI be useful for integrating Ukraine into the broader transatlantic community & rebuilding it after the war?
29:00 What is underappreciated about the 3SI?
34:50 What is 3SI missing?
36:40 What are most people not paying attention to regarding 3SI?
40:55 The changing climate of investment
42:05 The future of 3SI – how to keep it from collapsing like China’s 17 + 1?
49:10 How to make the 3SI member states a distinct geopolitical region?
50:50 The underadressed military dimension of 3SI & involving governments vs. the private sector