The second annual Euro-Atlantic Resilience Forum brought key decision makers and top experts in the field of resilience, held September 28-29 in Bucharest, Romania. The forum is a platform for subject matter experts from the government, business sectors, institutions, and academia to share experiences, knowledge, and expertise to raise awareness on international resilience within the European Union community.
The flagship event was organized by Romanian based Euro-Atlantic Resilience Centre, and this year’s theme was “Resilience at Sea and its Impact on Land”.
“I believe this second edition of the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Forum will be even more successful than the first one, considering the intense activity, increasing proficiency of the Centre in the field of resilience and also the excellent speakers participating this year,” said President of the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Centre Ovidiu Raețchi.
In support of NATO’s efforts, within the Alliance’s Layered Resilience Concept, the forum featured discussions on global resilience while also emphasizing the importance of the Black Sea Region for the transatlantic community.
“We are already working with NATO on resilience assessment and support missions in various states in the Black Sea region,” said Raețchi.
More than 60 speakers and hundreds of participants gathered for this year’s Forum to discuss crucial areas of resilience as noted in the strategic documents of NATO and the European Union. Strong topics of discussions include maritime and societal resilience; resilience in energy sector; resilience to climate change; natural disasters and marine ecosystem; and resilience to emerging and disruptive technologies.
Top-level decision makers and international experts also discussed biotechnologies, as applied in agriculture and medicine. Participants had roundtable discussions on the impact of societal resilience and the economic, and ethical and regulatory challenges posed by technologies in science and engineering.
Raețchi noted that this year’s forum is unique as each session was held simultaneously in Bucharest and cities like New York, Brussels, Washington D.C., Kyiv, Lublin and Vicenza with the aid of video-conferencing tools in which the audience have the opportunity to interact with speakers from the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Forum.
The Forum highlighted that by prioritizing community engagement, preparedness, sustainability, collaboration, and innovation, the international community can create solutions and share tools to build resilient communities capable of withstanding and bouncing back from vulnerabilities.
In addition to hosting the forum, the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Centre also introduced its Euro-Atlantic Resilience Journal this year, published in print and online at: resiliencejournal.e-arc.ro.