On the 29-30th of September Europe-Georgia Institute, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom South Caucasus and Strategic Dialogue Center organized the Future of the Black Sea Region Conference (FLEECE). The conference lasted for two days. On the first day international experts and their colleagues from Georgia discussed the challenges and perspectives of Black Sea Region. On the second day the junior fellows of FLEECE, who participated in the mentorship program presented the Opinion Papers written by them. Additionally to this, the second day and the conference was finalized with the online interview with the former Ambassador of the US in Georgia – Ian C. Kelly.
Second day was dedicated to the Opinion Papers of the fellows of FLEECE. There were two panels with eight speakers from the same number of groups. The speakers presented the papers on the following topics:
First Panel
The Channel of Istanbul
Russian Occupation – Obstacle for Economic Development
Georgian Military System
Terrorism and Georgia
Second Panel
Georgia’s Security Policy – Challenges
Georgia and North Caucasus
Hybrid Warfare in Regional Context of Black Sea
Anaklia Port
At the end of the day there was an online interview led by the President of Europe-Georgia Institute – George Melashvili with the former Ambassador of the US – Ian C. Kelly. There was a discussion about the role of Georgia in Black Sea Region context, challenges and perspectives of it. In the end Mr. Kelly addressed the audience – young leaders of the future and encouraged them to participate more intensively in the process of building democracy in Georgia.