OECD South East Europe Regional Programme

The OECD South East Europe (SEE) Regional Programme was created in 2000 under the auspices of the Stability Pact for a region weakened by conflict but endowed with rich resources and dynamism. Since its creation, the SEE Programme has supported the region to design and implement reforms to foster private sector development, boost competitiveness, attract more and better investment and improve living standards.

The Programme has had considerable impact helping SEE economies in identifying reform priorities, supporting implementation and bringing them closer to both OECD and EU standards. The Programme has also facilitated the development of mutually beneficial bilateral relations of OECD members with economies from the region, and enhanced intra-regional integration.

The SEE Regional Programme aims to support the six Western Balkan economies in evidence-based policy making to enhance their socio-economic convergence to OECD and EU standards by building institutional capacity in the region, facilitating high-level policy dialogue, and transferring OECD knowledge across the various policy areas. 

The SEE Regional Programme offers a structured support of the region’s economic transition to a democracy-based market economy and path towards European integration. It draws on OECD expertise, tools, methods and instruments to improve socio-economic outcomes, policymaking and living standards in the region. The work provides key reference frameworks for economic policymaking and serves as analytical knowledge base for the Western Balkan partners and the European Commission to inform on the EU accession process. This analysis, findings and policy recommendations are summarized in the Programme’s two flagship report series which guide policy prioritisation and serve as benchmarks for reform:

• Western Balkans Competitiveness Outlook
• SME Policy Index for the Western Balkans and Türkiye

The Scoreboard on Economic Convergence of the Western Balkans is a new instrument which annually assesses the level of convergence of the Western Balkans relative to the EU and to the OECD.

The SEE Programme benefits from a longstanding strategic partnership with the European Commission, which provides financial and knowledge support to the work. The Programme also collaborates extensively with other organisations active in the region such as the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) Secretariat, the Western Balkans 6 Chamber Investment Forum (WB6 CIF) and the Transport Community. The Programme is a knowledge partner to the Berlin Process.

Ms Marzena Kisielewska
Head of Division
South East Europe
Directorate for Global Relations and Co-operation
marzena.kisielewska@oecd.org