The first Board meeting of the SEE ICT Private Sector Forum took place with the participation of representatives of Associations of SEE ICT companies and INA Academy, on September 23 in the framework of the 6th Conference of the SEE IT Associations and Businesses in Ohrid, FYROM, on 21 - 23 September 2008.

During summer 2008, all SE Europe ICT Associations were invited to form the SEE ICT Forum Board, and the first meeting in Ohrid was attended by the Associations of Albania, Bosnia - Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Moldavia, FYROM, Serbia, Slovenia and Kosovo. It was decided that the SEE ICT Forum Board will develop a plan of actions and activities. The plan will include the conduct of open electronic consultations on the promotion of topics of interest of the ICT private sector, the monitoring and support of reforms in ICT Markets in South-east Europe, the active support of the recent initiative for the creation of recognized quality brand name for ICT products and services in the region of South-east Europe.

INA Academy participates in the SEE ICT Forum Board and also coordinates its activities and provides support. Furthermore, in its function as an advisory committee for the SEE Center for eGovernance Development training activities, the SEE ICT Forum Board examined the draft operational plan of the Center for eGovernace Development (CeGD) for the next year. The activities of the Forum to date will be presented during the next meeting of the Business Advisory Council for SEE which is scheduled to take place on the 30th of October in Istanbul, Turkey.

The establishment of the SEE ICT Private Sector Forum with the support of the Stability Pact was decided in June 2006 after the proposal of INA’s President, Mr. Vassili Takas and Mr. Goran Radman, President of Microsoft South-East Europe in the meeting of the Business Advisory Council for SEE in Tirana. The SEE ICT Forum is a permanent mechanism of consultation of governments with the business community aiming at the process of attitudes and proposals that promote the related with ICT Entrepreneurship in the region and contribute to the restriction of obstacles for investments in ICT. Executives from various business branches of Information technology and Telecommunications from the region, but also from international companies participate in the SEE ICT Forum. The Forum is chaired jointly by Mr. Vassili Takas and Mr. Goran Radman, and is supported by the Business Advisory Council for SEE.