Serhii Kandaurov: When drafting the Maritime Security Strategy of Ukraine, the backbone for us was the experience of the UK, the USA, New Zealand

When drafting the Maritime Security Strategy of Ukraine, the backbone for us was the experience of the UK, USA, New Zealand, and other countries whose economy is tied to the seas and oceans, and which have relevant experience. This was said during the interview with the Centre for Transport Strategies by Serhii Kandaurov, Head of the Strategic Development Department of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, Secretary of the Interagency Working Group on the Development of the Draft Strategy.

In his words, the draft document was worked on by an interagency working group consisting of about 27 representatives of public authorities and activists. Its final discussion will take place in the near future, whereupon the working group will resolve on proposing the draft Strategy for consideration by the members of the NSDC of Ukraine.

“The document is based on several key principles. The first principle is the rule of maritime, international and humanitarian laws, and the legislation of Ukraine. The second principle lies in ensuring the freedom of navigation, guaranteeing Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. The third principle is about environmental issues. The fourth principle is related to intrastate coordination. This is quite important as, unfortunately, there are a lot of government agencies engaged in maritime sector and maritime economy, but there was no coordination between them”, – explained Serhii Kandaurov.

The fifth principle, according to the the expert, is international cooperation and partnership, development of public-private partnership.

At the same time, as the Head of the Department stressed, the document may not disclose all the principles of ensuring maritime security, which will be under the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. However, the main principle, according to the draft, will be the development of balanced naval forces capable of ensuring the attainment of state defence tasks, including merchant shipping and maritime communications, and building up the capacity of the security forces based on the experience of the russian-Ukrainian war.

Answering what Ukraine can do right now to ensure maritime security, Serhii Kandaurov said: “The strategy envisages the organisation of joint or coordinated security missions in the Azov-Black Sea basin with our state partners. This may include joint patrols, demining of the area to ensure safe passage of merchant ships, development of cooperation with NATO member states, conducting trainings, ensuring the presence of NATO ships in the Black Sea – this is also a serious challenge at the international level”.