Representatives of the State Service for Maritime, Inland Waterway Transport and Shipping of Ukraine participated in a TAIEX seminar, dedicated to sharing of experience in upholding maritime security among the coastal States of the Baltic and Black Seas.
The two-day training event brought together representatives from Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Türkiye and Ukraine. It was organised in the Bulgarian city of Varna by the European External Action Service (EEAS) with assistance of the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy.
This regional seminar covered topics such as institutional capacity building, establishing civil-military and interagency cooperation, as well as developing response strategies in order to effectively counter hybrid threats at sea and other risks associated with the russian federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine.
Participants focused on various aspects of maritime security relevant for the Baltic-Black Sea area, namely:
- physical protection of critical underwater infrastructure;
- measures under international law to counter the “shadow fleet” operation;
- preparedness for oil spills and similar incidents with hazardous substances;
- monitoring of environmental risks associated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) and shipwrecks;
- technical cooperation under the auspices of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) within the international BCSEA and IPA projects.
Officials of the Shipping Administration took part in expert discussions, particularly as related to security of ships and port facilities according to the International Maritime Organization’s instruments and establishment of the Joint Maritime Coordination Center (JMCC) with the support of the EU Advisory Mission (EUAM) Ukraine.
We would like to express our gratitude to hosts and participants of the regional seminar for fruitful discussions, informative lectures and presentation materials.
European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)
