The goal of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (HIIA) is to help to solve those significant challenges that every society encounters when going through change: how to develop a consistent foreign policy whilst encouraging free and open debate about it so as to broaden the views and understanding of decision makers, scholars and other interested parties.

The Hungarian Institute of International Affairs was first founded in 1972 as a result of the Helsinki accord, and later on it was integrated into the László Teleki Foundation. In 2007, the Hungarian Government decided to re-establish the Institute as a foreign affairs academic research and discussion centre.The Institute is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and so it endeavours to comply with Hungarian foreign policy whilst not violating academic freedom.