BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Greater cooperation - through shared resources, coordinated policies, and trust-building - will be essential to strengthen resilience and unlock sustainable, inclusive growth across the Black Sea region, said the President of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) Serhat Köksal, Trend reports.
He joined heads of BSEC institutions and major international development organizations at the 14th International Black Sea Symposium hosted by ICBSS, stressing the urgent need to deepen cooperation amid unprecedented regional challenges.
Köksal noted that despite the strain of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict the BSEC framework continues to serve as a resilient platform for dialogue and problem-solving. The BSTDB, he said, is a concrete expression of regional commitment—providing long-term financing, mitigating country risk, and supporting cross-border investment when commercial options are limited.
The President highlighted the Bank’s contributions to renewable energy, regional gas and transport infrastructure, and efforts to reroute Ukrainian exports through neighboring countries, helping sustain global food supply chains.
Looking ahead, he pointed to opportunities in supply-chain diversification, renewable energy and storage, water management, and the scaling of technologies such as AI and fintech.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is EUR 3.45 billion.