ountries such as Veneto or Austria and recently also by the newly acceded countries. Parts of Poland, Slovakia and Hungary are now new border regions of the EU and face immigration-related problems while Romania and Serbia have experienced growing outflows of citizens towards EU Member States in recent years. The phenomenon means organisational and social challenges that have to be dealt with by better instruments and policies. MIGRALINKs main goals are to strengthen transnational co-operation in the governance of immigration flows in and between the seven countries participating in the project (Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro) and to provide immigrants with concrete return opportunities, offering appropriate training and entrepreneurship support, and hence contributing also to the economic and social development of poorer regions in the new EU Member States. A transnational network of public and private organisations concerned with immigration issues will be established and serve as a platform for exchanging information. It will also define potential return strategies for immigrants who then contribute to the development of their countries of origin. Moreover, a benchmark of strategies and services to foster the social inclusion of immigrants is planned. Expected Results: On the basis of the study results, MIGRALINK will define a comprehensive set of support services for immigrants, identify responsible service providers, highlight concrete opportunities in countries of origin and provide immigrants with reliable information and support for the development and set-up of entrepreneurial initiatives. Among others, the project aims for the following results: - Definition of innovative strategies for the governance of economic immigration, - Transfer of good practices among partner countries and capacity building of officers to improve immigration services in the new EU Member States, - Definition of innovative strategies and services to support immigrants in starting entrepreneurial initiatives in their own countries, - Establishment of public-private networks to improve the governance of immigration flows between partner countries, - Economic development and increased levels of security and social cohesion in partner countries.