South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes (SANEI) is a regional initiative to foster networking amongst economic research institutions in South Asia. The inception of SANEI can be traced back to an informal World Bank meeting in Colombo, held during March 1998. The formalization and funding of SANEI was made possible through a grant from the World Bank. The purpose of the grant was to support research capacity building in South Asia, and establish a network of economic policy research in the subcontinent. The Network thus emerged, with countries of South Asian region Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), with the objective of fostering strong research inter-linkages. The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi, was chosen as the first Secretariat of the Network. Following the practice of relocating the Secretariat every five years, it was relocated at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Dhaka in October 2009.