A. Background:

The Black Sea region is one of the most strategically important regions in Europe providing, first of all, a major trade link and transit routes for Caspian energy supplies. It forms the core of the vast area that extends from Europe to Central Asia and the Middle East and it is closely related to the unstable Balkans, Caucasus and Caspian regions characterized by common risks and challenges, first and foremost, ‘frozen’ conflicts and international terrorism.

It will not be an exaggeration to say that the Black Sea region remains one of the most challenging regions in Europe due to its cultural and political heterogeneity, the bipolar legacy, differing interests of the regional and non-regional actors embodied in a multiplicity of external policies. It falls within the competence of different international institutions and security arrangements – the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) among others. Although there are several international organizations and international cooperation in the region, the civil cooperation has not reached its potential in the region.

With this respect Ekonomistler Platformu as a leading think-tank in Turkey wants to improve the cooperation between think-tanks in the region which are studying about economic freedom, economic reform and policy issues and international cooperation in the region.

As we note that countries of the region have rarely experienced security, democracy and economic reform process, those countries still confront numerous problems including economic underdevelopment and related issues that holds a very important environment for the whole world. In this scope Ekonomistler Platformu, as an independent research institution in Turkey wants to establish a think-tank network in Black Sea Region with partner think-tanks from the region.
 
B. Mission of FORUM

The Black Sea Think-Tanks’ Forum is established to create an information sharing platform for think-tanks in the Black Sea Region studying about economic reform and related issues.

C. Organizational Structure of FORUM

1. Member Think – Tanks: The responsibilities of the think-tanks who wants to be a member of the forum are,
a. To provide their publications to be distributed by Secretarial Institution
b. To promote the Annual Conferences or other Forum events in their countries,

2. Founding Executive Committee: The Founding Executive Committee will be composed of the think tanks which leads FORUM establishment process. Each founding think-tank will have a representative in the Executive Committee and the Executive Committee will be responsible to elect the yearly Secretarial Institution.

3. Secretarial Institution (SI): The Secretarial Institution will be responsible to provide the flow of information between member think – tanks (publications, event invitations, etc.) and also to coordinate the Forum Activities. (Section D.) For 2009 as the start-up year, the Secretarial Institution will be Ekonomistler Platformu. In this scope, Ekonomistler Platformu will also prepare a web site including interactive platforms (blogs, forums etc.) and submit to the First Executive Committee Meeting. The Secretarial Institution will also be responsible for fund-raising activities for the Annual Forum Conference.

D. Activities

1. Electronic Publications: All think-tanks in the Forum are studying about several issues and publishing policy notes, research papers etc. The Secretarial Institution (SI) whom will be shared these publications by Forum Members and other resources will be responsible to distribute these papers to the all Forum members. The distribution of yearly conference results and periodic event results which are organized by Forum itself will also be a responsibility of SI.

2. Annual Conferences and Executive Committee Meeting: The Forum will organize a yearly meeting for each year to bring all Forum members together for networking activities and information sharing. Each year main subject for Annual Conference will be determined by Executive Committee meeting and the event will be organized by SI. The academics, researchers, politicians and other related institutions or individuals will be invited to this international event. The Annual Executive Committee Meetings will also be organized during the Annual Conference with participation of representatives of Forum member think-tank representatives.

3. Periodic Workshops: Due to the demand of Forum Members and budgetary opportunities, SI can also organize periodic workshops about thematic issues in specific subjects.

E. Budget

There will be no membership fees. For Annual Conference and Executive Committee Meeting which will be the main events for the Forum, the Secretarial Institution will coordinate the fund raising activities with support of all Forum member think-tanks. For the first year Ekonomistler Platformu, will submit a project proposal to several institution for funding such as German Marshall Fund of United States, CATO Institute, European Commission and Konrad Adaneur Stiftung.

F. Contact:

Ekonomistler Platformu and its partners are seeking for partners from countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Romania, Russia, Serbia.

To get more information about project and partnership opportunities please contact to Bu e-Posta adresi istek dışı postalardan korunmaktadır, görüntülüyebilmek için JavaScript etkinleştirilmelidir