About the Three Seas Region

Three Seas Region represents 100 million people in 11 Central and Eastern European countries with a combined GDP of €1.2 trillion. In 2018, CEE’s GDP accounted for almost 20% of economic growth of the European Union. CEE’s tech sector is growing rapidly and the ecosystem is blossoming. Currently there are around 30,000 startups including 12 unicorns with a combined value of €30 billion. CEE countries have been democracies for over 25 years and are members of the NATO, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.

During the last two decades, GDP in the CEE region has been growing on average more than twice as fast as in the European Union 15. This positive growth divergence of the CEE versus Western Europe has become even more apparent in 2019, with 7 countries from the region ranking in the top 10 fastest growing economies in the European Union. As a result, CEE countries, which represent around 10% of the total volume of EU GDP, contribute twice as much to EU’s growth rate and deserve recognition as Europe's growth engine or simply Growing Europe.

The favorable growth dynamics of the CEE region, comparable with the emerging markets rather than the developed ones, is achieved with political stability and in the absence of any major imbalances typical of emerging economies, such as a large current account deficit, commodity export dependence, vulnerability to currency movements, or high inflation combined with even higher funding costs for issuers. The convergence of the CEE region’s fundamentals and the development path of its capital markets was recognized by upgrade of Poland from emerging to developed markets by FTSE Russell in 2018. Simultaneously, two other CEE countries (the Czech Republic and Hungary) are only a step away from this rank. Romania will be upgraded to Secondary Emerging market status effective in September 2020.  This gives a clear signal that the case for Growing Europe should become an interesting investment theme with the potential to outperform some already established propositions like, for example, the BRICS, considered a benchmark for other countries.

• 100 million people in 11 countries with a combined
  GDP of €1,2 trillion.
• In 2018, CEE’s GDP accounted for almost 20% of economic growth of the European Union.
• CEE’s tech sector is growing rapidly and the ecosystem is blossoming. 
• Currently there are around 30.000 startups including 12 unicorns with a combined value of €30 billion. 
• CEE countries are democracies for over 25 years and are members of NATO, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

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