Events

Moldova - Blueing the Black Sea Consultations

March 22, 2021

Zoom

This consultation workshop on climate change and marine pollution is hosted by the World Bank, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, and the Government of Moldova.

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OVERVIEW
AGENDA
SPEAKERS

According to a recent report by the European Environmental Agency, water pollution is not a new problem in the Black Sea region and will be exacerbated in the future by intensified agriculture, industrialization, and urbanization - especially if these developments are not supported by improved wastewater treatment. The main challenge facing the region’s rivers is high concentrations of ammonium (NH4) and phosphate, caused by discharges of untreated or insufficiently treated wastewater and by agricultural run-off.
This is also the case in Moldova. Sources of pollution of surface water and groundwater in the country are mainly due to households’ individual sanitation systems and poorly or untreated municipal wastewater discharges from inadequate solid waste management sites, as well as from power and industrial plants and storm water. Although Moldova doesn’t have direct access to the Black Sea, its river basins (Prut Basin and Nistru [Dnister] Basin) are direct tributaries.
At this workshop, discussion will focus on issues such as the cost of pollution in waterways (in terms of public health and conservation of biodiversity) and alignment with EU standards and regulations, as well as the role of the private sector in the process.
The workshop is one of several national consultations, held as webinars, which gather selected participants representing public authorities and policy makers responsible for issues related to (marine and freshwater) environment, research, and Blue Economy development and investment, as well as private organizations working on marine and river pollution and financial institutions.
The consultations will seek feedback on the current state of play, pressing issues and priorities related to pollution prevention, reduction, and control in the Black Sea region, as well as opportunities that result from the process.

14.00 – 14.20	WELCOME ADDRESS
*Facilitator*:	H.E. Amb. Michael B. CHRISTIDES, Secretary General, Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS), Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) H.E. Mr. Ion PERJU, Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment of the Republic of Moldova Ms. Anna AKHALKATSI, Country Manager, World Bank Mr. Stanislav PETRASCU, Common Maritime Agenda National Hub of Moldova *Mr. Anatol GOBJILA,* Senior Agriculture Economist, World Bank
	FAMILY PHOTO
14.20 – 14.30	SETTING THE SCENE
*Speaker*:	The plenary session will present the concept of the planned Global Environmental Facility-funded Blueing the Black Sea Programme (BBSEA-GEF) with its objectives, components, timeline, and coverage. *Ms. Eolina MILOVA*, Senior Environmental Specialist, World Bank
14.30 – 15.00	WORKING SESSION 1: Turning the Tide of Pollution in the Black Sea
*Speakers: Moderator:*	The working session will introduce the World Bank-led effort to establish an up-to-date diagnostic of the state of play and issues at stake regarding pollution of Moldova’s waterways. Through a targeted discussion, the panel will aim to identify the sources, impacts and prevention efforts (information and institutional gaps) related to marine pollution, as well the key pollution challenges in Moldova. The findings will feed into an in-country pollution diagnostic paper, which, in turn, will inform the BBSEA-GEF architecture. *Mr. Owen MCINTYRE*, Director LLM, University College Cork *Ms. Lucia CAPATINA*, Vice President, OIKUMENA Public Association *Ms. Iryna MAKARENKO*, Pollution Monitoring and Assessment Officer, Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution *Poll and Q & A Session*
15.00 – 15.45	WORKING SESSION 2: BBSEA GEF Project: Focus on Moldova
*Speaker: Moderator*:	The working session will present the planned BBSEA-GEF project and will aim to gather feedback on its key components. The discussion will contribute to the understanding of the priorities of public authorities and private stakeholders with respect to the overall project and its parts, and to the promotion of eco-sustainable business practices, innovation, and finance that support pollution reduction. The session will touch upon avenues to involve financial institutions in funding and promoting green technology investments, focusing on pollution reduction. *Ms. Rositsa STOEVA*, Executive Manager, Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS), Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), BBSEA Project Manager *Mr. Svetoslav STOYANOV*, Blue Economy Expert, BBSEA Program Officer *Poll and Q & A Session*
15.45 – 16.00	WRAP-UP OF THE PANEL DISCUSSIONS AND CLOSING REMARKS
*Speakers*:	*Ms. Rositsa STOEVA*, Executive Manager, BSEC PERMIS, BBSEA Project Manager *Ms. Bérengère PRINCE*, Lead Natural Resources Management Specialist, World Bank

Ambassador Michael B. Christides

Secretary General of the Permanent International Secretariat/The Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Ambassador Michael B. Christides is the Secretary General of the Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS) of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, Ambassador Christides joined the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 1976 as first in his Class and served with distinction until his retirement in August 2014. Among other assignments, he served as Ambassador of Greece to Bulgaria, to Turkey, and to Argentina, and held senior posts in the Hellenic MFA as Political Director for South East Europe, as Director General for International Organizations, International Security & Cooperation and as Director General for International Economic Relations. Ambassador Christides participated in many international meetings and conferences and has spent more than 20 years dealing with Southeast European/Balkan issues, while travelling extensively in the region.

Ion Perju

Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development, and Environment of the Republic of Moldova
Mr. Ion Perju has served as Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development, and Environment of Moldova since November 2019. He started his career in 1990 as a school teacher, continued as a university lecturer at the State Agrarian University of Moldova, and in 2006, joined the Ministry of Agriculture as Head of the Policy Analysis, Monitoring, and Evaluation Department, and was appointed Deputy Minister two years later. In 2010-2016, Mr. Perju held various consulting assignments with the World Bank and USAID in farm management, agri-food, and food security. Since 2016, he has served as Advisor to the President of Moldova in the field of industrial agriculture and public administration. Mr. Perju holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the State Agrarian University of Moldova.

Anna Akhalkatsi

Country Manager for Moldova, Europe, and Central Asia, World Bank
Anna Akhalkatsi is the World Bank Country Manager for Moldova based in Chisinau. She oversees the World Bank’s program in the country and leads policy dialogue with government counterparts, civil society. and other partners. Ms. Akhalkatsi first joined the World Bank in 1999 as an economist in Tbilisi, Georgia. She then became the country representative for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Georgia before moving to Washington, D.C. where she worked on strategy and small business finance, as well as firm capability, value chains, and agribusiness issues. Her most recent assignment was the Regional Lead for IFC’s Cross-Cutting Advisory in the region of Latin America and Caribbean. Before joining the World Bank Group, Ms. Akhalkatsi worked at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the Parliament of Georgia, and did private sector consulting.

Stanislav Petrascu

Common Maritime Agenda National Hub of Moldova
Stanislav Petrascu has served in several capacities on a number of EU-funded projects in the transport sector in Moldova since 2012. His first engagement with the marine sector was on the TRACECA Maritime Safety and Security Project, where, in 2014-2016, he held the position of the National Coordination Expert. During his activities as part of the EU High-Level Advisers project, he contributed, among other efforts, to the development of a transport sector project pipeline—at the time, one of the very few of its kind among Moldova’s line ministries. Before joining the Common Maritime Agenda National HUB of Moldova, Mr. Petrascu served as Project Deputy Director of technical assistance for the transport sector reform, which also included capacity building and support to Moldova’s maritime transport. Mr. Petrascu holds a BA in Law and International Relations and has 12 years of professional experience in coordination of international relations and external communication with various state institutions and enterprises of Moldova.

Lucia Capatina

Vice President, OIKUMENA Public Association
Ms. Lucia Capatina joined the OIKUMENA team in 2005 supporting various projects related to environmental protection as consultant or project manager. She managed projects in the field of flood risk management and Protected Areas. In the past 10 years, she has been involved in the projects financed by PPRD East, EUWI Plus, European Investment Bank, GEF/SGP, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) with the main focus on floods and management plans, as well as TEMPUS and Erasmus Plus Programmes in the field of education. She is a Lecturer at Tiraspol State University in Chisinau and holds a master’s degree in Environmental Sciences from University of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova and a master’s degree in Geography from Faculty of Geography, Tiraspol State University.

Iryna Makarenko

Pollution Monitoring and Assessment Officer, Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution
Ms. Iryna Makarenko is a Pollution Monitoring and Assessment Officer (PMA Officer) at Permanent Secretariat to the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (Bucharest Convention), an international intergovernmental organization and the Regional Sea Convention for the Black Sea based in Istanbul, Turkey. Before moving to Turkey, she worked as a diplomat in the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union in Brussels as well as Advisor to Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine on European Integration and as a diplomat at the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. She holds a master’s degree in Environmental and Energy Law (Faculty of Law, Catholic University of Leuven, Kingdom of Belgium), as well as Certificates on Water Law (University of Dundee, Scotland), Environmental Diplomacy (University of Geneva, Switzerland), and Regional Economics (University of Genoa, Italy).

Owen McIntyre

Director LLM, University College Cork
Prof. McIntyre’s principal interest is the field of Environmental Law, with a particular research focus on International Water Law. He is the General Editor of the Journal of Water Law and has served as the inaugural Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law's Specialist Group on Water and Wetlands, as a panel member of the Project Complaints Mechanism of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and as a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency. He holds visiting positions at the University of Dundee, Charles University Prague, Xiamen University, and Wuhan University.

Eolina Milova

Senior Environmental Specialist, World Bank
Ms. Eolina Milova is an environmental lawyer with more than 20 years of professional experience. She started her career in the Parliament of Bulgaria as a legislative researcher. Subsequently, she worked in the EU Integration Department of the Ministry of Environment of Bulgaria, at the time when the country prepared for and completed its accession to the EU. In this capacity, Ms. Milova led the negotiations on the environment chapter, including the harmonization of the national environmental legislation with the EU acquis. After Bulgaria joined the EU, Ms. Milova headed the EU coordination department and led efforts in preparation of negotiation positions for the EU Council on Environment. Ms. Milova has served as Senior Environment Specialist at the Bulgarian country office of the World Bank since 2009. In the last 12 years she worked on both lending and analytical projects in the field of environment, water, energy, agriculture, transport, and regional development. More recently, her work program is covering issues as diverse as air quality, forestry, water resource and floods management, integrated regional investments, and just transition in the context of the EGD, among others. In the last two years, Ms. Milova has been deeply involved in the emerging Blueing the Black Sea program of the World Bank, focusing on pollution and strengthening governance of the Blue Economy.

Bérengère Prince

Lead Natural Resources Management Specialist, World Bank
Ms. Bérengère Prince, Lead Natural Resources Management Specialist, joined the World Bank in 2010. Over the past decade, she has led several blue engagements in Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Since her transfer to the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Region Environment, Natural Resources, and Blue Economy Global Practice in March 2020, she has been leading the preparation of a new regional program for the Black Sea and serves as a technical lead for teams working in the blue space in Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Since September 2019, she also led the preparation of the World Bank report Realizing the Blue Economy Potential of Albania.

Rositsa Stoeva

Executive Manager, BSEC PERMIS / BBSEA Project Manager
Ms. Rositsa Stoeva serves as Executive Manager at the Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS) of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. Born in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria, Ms. Stoeva joined the Bulgaria Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2003. She served in Istanbul and Skopje. Before joining the BSEC PERMIS in 2017, she held a position of Head of Regional Cooperation Department at the Southeastern Europe Directorate, Counsellor, at the Bulgaria Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ms. Stoeva has spent nearly two decades addressing Southeastern European and Balkan issues and travelling extensively in the region.

Mr. Svetoslav Stoyanov

Blue Economy Expert/BBSEA Program Officer
Mr. Svetoslav Stoyanov is the Program Officer for the preparation phase of the Blueing the Black Sea Regional Project managed by the Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS) of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). Prior to joining the team, Mr. Stoyanov worked as a policy officer for the European Commission (Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) where he had acquired nearly a decade of hands-on experience in strategic policy development and portfolio management (e.g., Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea, Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for the Black Sea, Atlantic Action Plan 2018 evaluation and 2020 update), regional cooperation (the Black Sea, EU Atlantic Area, EU Outermost Regions), financial planning, and funding instruments. He coordinated the organization of the annual Black Sea Blue Economy Stakeholder Conference in 2015 to 2018. Mr. Stoyanov is a lawyer (HU Berlin) by training and has worked in the public and private sectors in Germany and Belgium (circular economy, competition law).