During the 10th anniversary summit of the Three Seas Initiative held in Warsaw on Tuesday, Montenegro and Albania officially became members of this international group, which now consists of 14 countries from the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Seas.
Launched in 2015 by Poland and Croatia, the Three Seas Initiative was initially introduced as an infrastructure project aimed at strengthening cooperation among Central and Eastern European countries. The first summit took place in Dubrovnik in 2016.
The initiative includes Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, and Montenegro. Its primary goals are to enhance cooperation in the areas of energy, logistics, transportation, as well as information technology and telecommunications.
Key documents signed throughout the years include the Dubrovnik Declaration (2016), Warsaw Declaration (2017), Bucharest Declaration (2018), and Ljubljana Declaration (2019). The Bucharest Declaration emphasized three main objectives: strengthening economic development, boosting political stability within the EU, and enriching transatlantic ties.
The initiative’s notable projects include 143 infrastructural projects across transportation, energy, and digital infrastructure, with priority projects such as the gas interconnector with Lithuania and Slovakia, the Via Carpatia road, and the Baltic-Adriatic railway corridor.
Regarding financing, an investment fund has been established to fund these joint projects, with contributions coming from development banks rather than direct state participation.
Strategic partners in this initiative include the United States, Japan, Germany, and the European Union (EU).
