Middle Black Sea Development Agency (OKA) has been established by the decision of the Council of Ministers on November 10th, 2008 in order to support economic, social and cultural development of four cities located in the Middle Black Sea Region of Turkey. These cities are Samsun, Amasya, Tokat, and Çorum, among which Samsun has been chosen as the centre of the Agency.

OKA is one of the regional development agencies which have been founded by the Turkish Government throughout the whole country in the NUTS-2 regions to coordinate regional development, to introduce strategies to enable regions to use their capacities to the maximum benefit of the region, to supply the region with the means to improve their competitiveness and reduce the imbalance existing within and between the regions.

Objectives of the Agency are to improve the cooperation between public sector, private sector and NGOs and to promote the effective and efficient use of the resources in order to accelerate the sustainability of the regional development by evoking the local potential.

Duties of the Agency are as follows:

       - Providing technical support to the planning activities and duties of local authorities,
       - Supporting the activities and projects ensuring the implementation of regional plan and programs; monitoring and evaluating the implementation process of activities and projects supported within this context and  presenting results to the Undersecretariat of State Planning Organization,
       - Contributing to the improvement of the capacity of the region concerning the rural and local development in accordance with the regional plans and programs, and supporting the projects within this extent as well,
       - Monitoring other projects implemented by public sector, private sector and non-governmental organizations in the region and considered as important in terms of regional plan and programs,
       -Improving cooperation between public sector, private sector and non-governmental organizations to achieve regional development objectives,
       - Carrying out research, or having them carried out, concerning the determination of resources and opportunities of the region, acceleration of economic and social development and enhancement of competitiveness, and supporting other research carried out by other persons, organizations and institutions.