We believe that there is an increasing interest towards SEE region both from politics and economics. Undoubtedly, these countries will be Member States of European Union sooner or later. Some of them are well advanced in European integration process and some of them are at the early stage. However, the number of candidate countries from the SEE region will increase gradually. For the European Union, the integration of this “neighbouring” region is also a medium and long-term priority. On the other hand, FDI inflows have also been increasing in this region, which reflects the increasing interest of economic agents. We believe that these trends will continue in the future.

That is the reason why Southeast European Network (SEEN) was founded by X economic institutes in 2005. The main aim of this network is to establish a universal think-tank related to mainly economic issues in the SEE region. However, the purpose of the network is wider:

• To exchange the lessons and experiences gained from own research programs,
  
• To increase the strength and credibility of joint applications for tenders and calls launched by international donors, the EU and other organizations,
  
• To arrange joint conferences, publications and in some distant future joint work on various issues of interest.
  
• To exchange the lessons and experiences gained from own research programs,

The network is a partnership of equal institutions, with no fees or any other duties. The membership is voluntary and based on invitation from the network. At the first stage of development of SEEN, we plans that each Southeast European country is represented by one institute. The network also includes the Hungarian initiator institute, the ICEG European Center.