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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, held every April at Harvard University, 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 Croatia and Serbia to Harvard. The Black Sea Security Program and its predecessor -- the Ukrainian National Security Program -- have brought together 367 regional participants and 145 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.
In addition, the Program annually hosts a regional workshop in one of the Black Sea countries. The 2007 Harvard Black Sea Security Program regional workshop took place September 23-27 in Kiev, Ukraine. Approximately 60 participants from the United States and regional countries gathered to discuss regional cooperation and relations with NATO and the EU. This event was a follow on to the April Black Sea Security Program at Harvard and was the sixth annual gathering of alumni and regional experts affiliated with the Harvard Black Sea Security Program. In addition to program alumni, the workshops host European representatives from NATO, the EU and various international organizations. Prior conferences were held in Yalta, Ukraine (2002); Baku, Azerbaijan (2003); Batumi, Georgia (2004), Chisinau, Moldova (2005) and Bucharest, Romania (2006)
The objectives of the workshops are to:
- provide a forum for regional experts to discuss critical security issues pertaining to the Black Sea region;
- strengthen and expand the regional network encouraged by the annual Black Sea Security Program;
- involve American general officers and policy makers in Black Sea regional security dialogue; and
- identify key individuals for future iterations of the program.
The next workshop will be held in Yerevan, Armenia, in October, 2008.
The Black Sea Security Program is funded by a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors.
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