On 11 March, 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey the Experts’ meeting brought together consultant authors from the six countries targeted for special Development Centre Working Paper reports under Phase one of the Black Sea and Central Asia Initiative: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine in order to discuss work in progress with the Paris combined team and a number of local experts.

 

Financially supported by the Government of Romania and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, the meeting opened with a description of the whole project and an explanation of its objectives.

 

A brief introduction to the Programme was also provided for participants. BSCAI is working in partnership with the OECD’s Eurasia Competitiveness Programme, which is particularly concerned with private sector development. This partnership enriches the process by providing expert analysis of private sector development in several of the countries under review and an overall methodological strategy.

 

After that, each consultant presented her or his work which was then discussed with all meeting participants.

At the end of the meeting, conclusions for further BSCAI development were reached. Visits will be arranged throughout May to work with authors on finalising their contributions. A minimum of one meeting per country to present the results of the studies to the local authorities and to the media will be held around the month of October.