Education, research and technological development is crucial and is carried out increasingly on a global scale. Networking is one necessary and essential precondition which will enable CEENet countries to leapfrog into the next century. To fulfil its task the academic community needs the tools to communicate and to network independently and freely without any frontiers. The Situation In the CEENet countries there is typically an awareness of the challenges of the information age, a political will and a lot of enthusiasm to develop networks and services. It is evident that most of the CEENet countries have achieved significant results in the establishment and development of their national networks for the research, academic and education community.
All countries have similar interests, needs and driving forces towards the information society.
At the same time this region is characterized by different levels of political, social and economic transformation among the countries. There are differences in the legal frameworks, in the quality of the physical infrastructure, in the connectivity of the networks, in the level of liberalization of telecommunication networks and services, in administrative structures, in the training and education systems. In order to avoid the widening of these gaps efforts have to be made to enable all CEENet countries to participate in global networking for education, research and technological development on an equal basis. While recognizing that financial resources are crucial, CEENet stresses also that innovative ideas and creativity will be even more important to reach its objectives.