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 UBCCE
has been founded on 27 November 2006.
UBCCE is an international union composed of
central, private, voluntary, nationally
representative, horizontal business organizations
from the countries neighboring or having strong
geographical ties with the Black Sea and Caspian
Region.
UBCCE is
the first regional business organization of the
Black Sea and Caspian.
UBCCE’s headquarters based in Turkey, has been
classified as a second degree historical building
termed as the “Bodvil Building” in the Pera district
of Istanbul.
As of 2010, UBCCE ensures permanent contacts with
24 member organizations from 19 countries in the
Black Sea and Caspian Region.
Apart from its members in the Black Sea and
Caspian Region, UBCCE has members from Austria,
Germany (Bavaria), Iraq, Poland and Slovenia as "associate"
members
UBCCE’s main objective and mission is to
contribute to establish institutionalized
cooperation between the private sector organizations
with a view to assist the economic and social
development in the Black Sea and Caspian Region.
Dr. Athanase LAVIDAS, Hellenic Federation of
Enterprises (SEV), is the third President of UBCCE.
Ömer SABANCI is the Founding President of UBCCE.
Arzuhan DOĞAN YALÇINDAĞ is the first Chairwoman of
UBCCE and Honorary President of the Union.
UBCCE General Assembly defines the Union’s
policies and strategies by meetingat least once a
year in March under the chairmanship of the UBCCE
President.
UBCCE has Memorandum of Understandings with the
Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises
(BUSINESMED), the Spanish Confederation of Employers’
Organizations (CEOE), International Congress of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ICIE), Turkish
Enterprise and Business Confederation (TURKONFED)
and the Vienna Economic Forum (VEF).
Within the framework of the Memorandum of
Understanding signed between UBCCE and the Union of
Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (BUSINESMED)
the two organizations are coordinating the actions
of Business Country Desks to create a network for
the benefit of all member companies.
UBCCE is a member of International Federation for
Sustainable Development and Fight
to Poverty in the Mediterranean and Black Sea (FISPMED),
headquarted in Venice, Italy.
UBCCE is currently running a project entitled
“Developing a Green Business Support Strategy for
UBCCE" with German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ)
to support private sector associations and
enterprises of the Region to respond to the multiple
challenges and opportunities of climate change in an
efficient and proactive manner
UBCCE is a part of the Eastern Partnership Civil
Society Forum of the European Union, which aims to
promote contacts among civll society organizations
and facilitate their dialogue with public
authorities.
UBCCE is an active partner of Eurasia
Competitiveness Programme of OECD which aims to
contribute to economic growth in Eastern Europe,
South Caucasus and Central Asia by encouraging
regional dialogue and supporting policy design and
implementation that would lead to a more dynamic
business climate.
The Secretary General of UBCCE is the "interim"
coordinator of OECD Eurasia Private Sector Forum.
UBCCE coordinates the activities of "A Step Across
the Border" Commission of the Marmara and North
Anatolian Industrialists and Businessmen’s
Federation (MAKSIFED) which aims to support SMEs,
seeking to expand their businessesto new markets,
and thus, to contribute to the development and
enhancement of bilateral trade and investment
relations with foreign countries.
UBCCE organizes every year a Business Forum in a
different city of the Region.
Austrian, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian, Slovenian
and Turkish members of UBCCE are also members of
BUSINESSEUROPE.
The Black Sea Region was the fastest growing region
of the world after Southeast Asia before the
economic crisis.
Real GDP growth of the Black Sea countries between
2000 and 2008 averaged 6 percent per annum, which
was equal to a cumulative economic expansion of 68
percent.
The Black Sea and Caspian countries represent a
market of around 450 million people with an export
capacity of 790 billion usd and an import capacity
of 805 billion usd per year (before the crisis).
Caspian Region has 46.5 percent of the proved
natural gas and 19.5 percent of oil reserves of the
world.
Kazakhstan holds the largest share of the Caspian
Sea region’s recoverable crude oil reserves.
According to the BP statistical review its combined
onshore and offshore proved reserves were 5.5
billion tonnes (40 billion barrels) as of December
2008.
The Black Sea and Caspian region is the transit
route of big energy/pipeline projects such as
Nabucco, South Stream, Blue Stream, Trans-Caspian,
Pan European Pipeline, Baku-Tbilissi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline,Trans-Anatolian oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilissi-Erzurum
pipeline, Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, White
Stream gas pipeline, etc.
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of
water on Earth by area, variously classed as the
world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
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