The Annual Conference of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) Cross-Border Cooperation in the Black Sea Basin Programme, which is implemented under the Cross-Border Cooperation, the second component of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) of the European Union, was organized by the Joint Managing Authority of the Programme (Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration of Romania) and hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization on 5 December 2013 at Holiday Inn Hotel in Istanbul.

During the conference, which was held in the form of panel sessions, experiences gained under the program, best project examples and expectations, changes and innovations for the next programming period (European Neighbourhood Instrument-ENI 2014-2020) were discussed, as well as SWOT (strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the program area and thematic objectives and priorities proposed to be addressed in the new period. Programme countries (Bulgaria, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and Greece), the European Commission, representatives of national and international organizations operating in the Black Sea basin and other project beneficiaries participated in order to develop cooperation.

Since it is important for the Project Beneficiaries to participate in the Annual Conference, which is a platform where the main policies of the Program are discussed, Gülsen AVAZ and Pembe ÖZER ERDOĞAN from TÜBİTAK MAM participated in the organization within the scope of "Integrated Management of Hotspots and Protection of the Black Sea Ecosystem Project (Hot Black Sea)". In addition, Georgeta ALECU from ICPE-CA (Romania), the project coordinator organization, and Manana DEVIDZE from FCE (Georgia), our project partner, participated.

The project poster was displayed in the meeting room and the project brochure was distributed to the participants.