On the 18th of August 2022 the Brokerage event “Joint Venture Opportunities between Companies from Romania and Ukraine for Boosting Blue Businesses in Maritime Transport” was held at the premises of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Navigation of Constanța.
The aim of this event was to generate proposals in order to facilitate companies and enterprises from Ukraine to overcome circumstances provoked by the of war on the way to the possible stabilization and recovery period by stimulating cooperation with Romanian partners. Due to the hybrid format, specialists from Romania and Ukraine had an opportunity to join online. The event was presided by Ms. Ruxandra Serescu, General Director of CCINA Constanța.
Executive Director of Ukrainian Maritime Cluster Olena Zhukova presented Cluster, its stages of development, members and partners, including representatives from naval subcluster, shipbuilding and ship repair, engineering and R&D, services and suppliers of marine equipment, sience and education, associates, and also Cluster activities. As like example, fundraising programs for cluster members and partners as part of the Mykolaiv Defense Cluster (MDC) initiative and in order to preserve personnel potential and support the maritime and shipbuilding industry. From the UMC members, the next representatives made a speech: Prof. Dr. Yurii Zhukov, prof. Oleksii Zivenko (ТОВ “C-Job Nikolayev“), Stanislav Seleznov (ТОВ Marine Design Engineering Mykolayiv), Dmytro Bussov (State Enterprise Research & Design Shipbuilding Center), Olha Raku (Business Support Center). They described ongoing situation in their companies and organizations, priority areas of activity and plans for the future.
Oleksandr Senkevych, Mayor of Mykolaiv joined the conference online, describing the realities of the city – Mykolaiv is under shelling every day, local ports and many enterprises are forced to stop their operation, plenty of infrastructure and residential buildings are damaged and destroyed. Thanks to the support of such countries as Romania, two-thirds of Mykolaiv residents were evacuated and welcomed in new locations. Mykolaiv is courageously holding on, but hopes for the help of friendly countries in the reconstruction of the city.
Among guests of the event who addressed with a speech to the audience were Prof. Dr. Mykhailo Zgurovsky, Rector of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, Cezar Bichescu, City Manager of Galati Municipality and Dr. Gelu Stan, General Director of ANCONAV – the Romanian Shipbuilders Assocation.
Prof. Dr. Eden Mamut presented the 4BIZ – Boosting Black Sea Blue Biz project, which aims to develop a collaboration framework that will bring together blue economy stakeholders in Black Sea countries in order to boost innovation, digitalization and investment in the Black Sea blue economy with the main focus on fisheries and aquaculture, coastal and maritime tourism and maritime transport.
During the moderated discussion, participants from both countries presented propositions for cooperation and development of business partnerships in the field of gas exploitation from the continental shelf, the use of renewable energy resources, sustainable solutions for agriculture and so on. After, they outlined priorities for the next period and the responsible representatives from the participating institutions that will develop jointly agreed initiatives.
Ukrainian Maritime Cluster and its participants are grateful to the Black Sea Universities Network initiative representatives for an opportunity to join, to establish new business contacts and strong support in such difficult time of the war.