Imke Pente completed her doctoral studies in Political Science at the Freie Universität Berlin. In her PhD thesis she explored the regional economic integration process in Southeast Asia and the role of different private and state actors in the regional policy making. Before she had completed her studies in International Relations, European Studies and Economics in Berlin, Osnabrück, Potsdam, and Washington, D.C. She worked, among others, with the GIZ and a national Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. As a Mercator Fellow, Imke will focus on the potential of foreign direct investments for sustainable economic development in Southeast Asia.