Ukraine has launched a new cooperation format – the Carpathian Integration Initiative that brings together all Carpathian countries, their regions, and communities across the Carpathian Mountains to facilitate cooperation at the macro-regional level.
The Carpathian region is home to around 126 million people. It spans eight countries (Ukraine, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, and Serbia), six of which are members of the European Union. The region’s combined GDP is $3.4 trillion, accounting for around 15% of the European Union’s GDP.
Its main industries include machinery, equipment, electronic components, mineral resources, chemicals, and agriculture. The Carpathian region has well-developed cross-border trade and energy connections. It is home to strategic gas storage facilities, some of the largest in Europe. The region serves as a natural European gateway for routes from the South Caucasus and Asia via the Black Sea and is one of the most reliable foundations for Europe’s defense against Russia.
No comprehensive development policy has yet been established for this region, similar to the strategies for the Alpine, Danube, and other macro-regions of Europe that provide access to EU financial instruments and help attract investments worth billions of dollars. The first Carpathian Summit aims to establish a permanent high-level political platform for dialogue and cooperation – the Carpathian Integration Initiative – develop a shared vision for the future of the Carpathians, and integrate common priorities into the national policies of the countries in the region.
Around 100 business projects from eight countries worth nearly €40 billion will be presented at the Carpathian Integration Initiative Summit. In the coming years, economic growth in the Carpathian macro-region could be twice as fast as the EU average.
Following the Summit, an application is planned to be submitted to the European Commission to launch an EU Macro-Regional Strategy for the Carpathians. The main areas for potential projects include the environment, energy and resources, infrastructure and digitalization, education, science and innovation, tourism and cultural heritage, and economic development. In particular, funding is expected to be attracted for projects involving reforestation, flood-control planting and erosion control; green hydrogen production and transportation; and the construction of small hydropower plants, biogas plants, and small solar and wind power plants.
Potential projects also include the construction of the Ivano-Frankivsk–Katowice highway, a network of electric vehicle charging stations, the rollout of fiber-optic internet and 5G, local agricultural hubs, a network of cross-border tourism routes, a platform for monitoring environmental conditions, demographics, economic trends, and innovation processes, and joint education and internship programs for students and professionals in the region.
Cooperation in the Carpathian region needs to be strengthened in view of Russia’s policy, which is built around long-term confrontation with a united Europe. The launched initiative and EUSCARP are aimed at improving transport and logistics capacity, modernizing roads and railways, increasing storage capacity, developing renewable energy sources and the region’s mineral resources, strengthening industrial cooperation, building interconnectors between energy systems, and attracting investment.
The Carpathians can become an even stronger energy contributor to Europe, with a network of gas storage facilities and a reliable guarantor of energy security. Cooperation among the countries of the region will also support the European integration of Ukraine and the other countries participating in the initiative.