DUSHANBE, July 2, Asia-Plus — The www.epinetwork.org , is created as a bi-lingual on-line resource to serve the needs of experts and researchers in information sharing and experience exchange in CIS countries and Central and Eastern Europe.

Ms. Sayora Arifjanova, the project coordinator, said that the on-line resource aims at facilitating cooperation and networking among economic policy institutes (EPI) to strengthen their potential in policy advice.

Economic Policy Institutes Network was initiated by the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS in 2004 think tanks or supporting development of economic policy institutes (EPI) in Europe and CIS countries in transition with particular emphasis on low- and middle-income countries. The principal goal of the initiative is to develop the capacity of economic policy institutes in the target countries so as to provide these countries with independent, sophisticated voices in policy issues.

The network joins a number of institutions from Eastern Europe and CIS countries with relatively high income and low or middle-income countries of Central Asia, Caucasus, South-Eastern Europe and CIS. It facilitates active interaction among these institutions. They are getting more and more involved into the joint projects on multilateral and bilateral basis, and strengthen their capacities in terms both research capacities and fundraising.

The website incorporates the services that foster communication during implementation of joint initiatives both among the network members and other portal users, effect online education and offers a technical platform for data and knowledge exchange to run joint projects by EPIN members.

The website offers accumulated analytical publications on main development issues in transition economies. The services offered in the portal are supposed to enhance the capacity of researchers and experts and update on the latest developments on social-economic issues in the region. There are a number of databases, which present EPIN members’ products and activities: in the database of EPIN think-tanks all necessary background information about each EPIN Network member is available; in the publication database almost all online publications of EPIN think-tanks and other external publications are posted; the events database alerts on all main developments inside each EPIN think-tank, posts main social-economic developments in CIS and Central and Eastern Europe, conference calls, research and education grant opportunities and any other announcements that are of any interest to both EPIN members and other portal users. In the experts database a résumé of EPIN experts and researchers and any external professionals are available. In a later stage the web-resource plans such services as on-line education, e-forums, e-conferences, which will be conducted by EPIN members or other external institutions.