The main challenge for South East Europe (SEE) economies is to commit to, and sustain the implementation of, long-term reforms aimed at increasing competitiveness and promoting sustainable, inclusive and balanced development, as well as better integration between the EU Member States, candidate and potential candidate countries and neighbouring countries. An adequate response to this challenge will certainly require using the best available scientific knowledge and constant re-evaluation of the development process in light of the scientific findings. Therefore, it will be essential to enhance the scientific understanding, improve the long-term scientific assessments, strengthen the scientific capacities and ensure that the sciences are responsive to the emerging needs.

Along this line, a regional series of biannual Sustainable Development of Energy Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) conferences have been initiated to provide a venue for the researchers from the SEE region, but also for world-wide researchers and specialists and those interested in learning about the sustainability of development, to present research progress and to discuss the state of the art, the future directions and priorities in the various areas of sustainable development and regional integration.