BLACK SEA SECURITY PROGRAM

The Black Sea Security Program began in 2001 with the goal of encouraging a regional security system based on cooperation and integration.  It is unique in its mission to bring together leading policy makers in the Black Sea region with senior US officers to gain a deeper understanding of issues affecting the region and to encourage problem solving in areas of common interest.  The program involves senior military representatives and civilian security specialists from the United States and ten regional countries:  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.  Recent efforts to reach out have brought participants from Kazakhstan, Croatia and Serbia to Harvard. The Black Sea Security Program and its predecessor – the Ukrainian National Security Program – have brought together 386 regional participants and 160 American participants since 1997.

The program aims to:

·         Deepen participants' understanding of global and regional strategy, defense organization, and military reform and restructuring;

·         Identify the very broad common areas of agreement that exist among the Black Sea nations and expose their officials and the US participants to the strong common history and shared values of the region;

·         Highlight the specific areas of current cooperation on issues of vital interest to these countries and, at the same time, identify those issues which divide them and present challenges to regional cooperation;

·         Expose the Black Sea officials to the free flow of ideas inherent in the pluralistic American system and within the US national security community itself by engaging them with policy makers who represent a wide range of viewpoints.

The 2009 Black Sea Security Program took place March 22 -28, hosting 19 regional representatives and 15 Americans.  The regional delegation began the program in Riga, Latvia on March 18 with a seminar on regional security concerns organized by the Latvian Ministry of Defense. The group arrived at Harvard on March 21, where participants united with their American counterparts for an intense six-day curriculum at the Kennedy School of Government. The next program will take place in April 2010.

The Black Sea Security Program is funded by a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, with additional support from the US Department of Defense.  For more information, please contact Program Director Sergei Konoplyov at (617) 495-8046, or sergei_konoplyov@harvard.edu.

BLACK SEA SECURITY PROGRAM REGIONAL WORKSHOPS

The most recent Harvard Black Sea Security Program Regional Workshop took place in Yerevan, Armenia, October 2008.  Approximately 45 participants from the United States and regional countries gathered to discuss regional cooperation and relations with NATO and the EU.  The event was a follow-up to the April Black Sea Security Program at Harvard.

The Armenia workshop was the seventh annual gathering of alumni and regional experts affiliated with Harvard’s Black Sea Security Program, which takes place every Spring at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.  In addition to program alumni, the workshops host European representatives from NATO, the EU, and various international organizations.  Prior conferences took place in Yalta, Ukraine (2002); Baku, Azerbaijan (2003); Batumi, Georgia (2004), Chisinau, Moldova (2005), Bucharest, Romania, (2006) and Kiev, Ukraine (2007).  The objectives are: 1) to provide a forum for regional experts to discuss critical security issues pertaining to the Black Sea region; 2) to strengthen and expand the regional network encouraged by the annual Black Sea Security Program; 3) to involve American general officers and policy makers in Black Sea regional security dialogue; and 4) to identify key individuals for future iterations of the program.