Will the Three Seas Initiative Have New European Members?
The Three Seas Initiative members are EU countries; however, some non-EU ones also express their willingness to join.
On 12 January 2021 Moldova’s newly elected President Maia Sandu went on her first official foreign tour. She visited Kyiv, where she met with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski. The joint declaration issued by both Presidents contains the following statement: ‘We note the willingness to strengthen co-operation with partner countries in Southeast Europe and the Black Sea region. In this context, we confirm out interest in joining the Three Seas Initiative.’
Participation in the realization of key infrastructural projects should effectively boost co-operation between the Three Seas Initiative member states and neighbouring countries. Poland is the largest among the 3S countries and therefore it could play a key role in initiating such co-operation, especially that several projects planned by those neighbouring countries tally with Polish initiatives. Ukraine and Moldova are now planning to proceed with the construction of a new motorway linking their capital cities, Kyiv and Chișinău. Part of that concept is also a border bridge on the Dniester. Once the motorway is completed, driving between the two cities will take about 5 hours. In 2016, the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure postulated three branches of the Via Carpatia into Ukraine. One of them, the Lublin – Chełm – Lutsk – Ternopil – Vinnytsja – Odessa crosses the planned Kyiv-Chișinău motorway. Two other branches, passing through Lviv to Chernivtsi and farther on to Romania, are situated very close to Moldova, which opens up new connection possibilities.
Another country that the Three Seas states would welcome as a new member of the Initiative is Greece. As Greece is an EU country, co-operation could prove easier than that with Ukraine and Moldova and could perhaps contribute to transforming the Three Seas into the Four Seas Initiative, as Greece lies, inter alia, on the Aegean Sea.
Some co-operation of the Three Seas Initiative with Greece can already be observed. For instance, the planned course of Via Carpatia, linking the north of the Three Seas region with the south, was made longer that originally planned to reach the Greek city of Thessaloniki situated to the south of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. At the same time, Austria is getting involved in Greek railway logistics. Two years ago, a Rail Cargo Group subsidiary started transporting goods to Greece. The company is also actively creating a delivery chain, forwarding goods into and out of Greece. Another country interested in Greece’s accession to the Initiative is Bulgaria; this is due to pipe transport and Greek LNG terminals. Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev emphasizes his country’s co-operation with Greece in the gas sector. As the Southern Gas Corridor will pass through the Greek territory, Bulgaria is keenly interested in availing itself of these opportunities; it is said that Greece could become its main supplier of natural gas.
The development of the Three Seas Initiative now depends on intensified co-operation between its members and inclusion of new members. The described directions of geographical expansion of the Initiative offer new possibilities of economic growth for all Three Seas member states.
Source: https://intermodalnews.pl/
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