Brussels    —  On September 24, 2007 in Zagreb, government representatives of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania and Slovenia have taken an important step forward in their efforts to improve the region’s disaster response capability and co-ordination by signing a Memorandum of Understanding on the Institutional Framework of the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Initiative for South Eastern Europe (DPPI SEE).

The MoU will further enhance regional co-operation and regional consultation in the field of disaster management and commit the participating countries to assume more technical and financial responsibility for disaster preparedness and prevention.  The remaining countries of the Stability Pact DPPI SEE initiative, i.e., Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, are committed to sign the MoU after completion of the internal procedures for decision-making in their countries.

The forest fires in South Eastern Europe this year as well as the floods of recent years have claimed several lives and had a significant negative economic impact on the countries of region.  They have also highlighted the importance of the work of DPPI and the need of the countries of the region to work together and elaborate more concrete strategies on how to face the challenges stemming from natural disasters and co-ordinate the necessary assistance.

At the DPPI SEE Regional Meeting on September 25, discussions focused on the program of DPPI SEE activities in 2007, the Disaster Management Training Program for 2008, the possibility of creating a Joint Emergency Response Units, a Flood Response Exercise, the NATO Science for Peace and Security supported project on Harmonization of Seismic Hazard Maps for the Western Balkan Countries, co-operation with other organisations and institutions and the recent emergencies in the region.

Established in 2002 as a cooperative framework among the Stability Pact beneficiary countries, plus Greece, Hungary, Slovenia and Turkey, DPPI SEE has been focusing on capacity building for disaster preparedness and prevention.  The DPPI SEE Secretariat, based in Sarajevo, is coordinating all activities.

For further information, please contact Stability Pact's Spokesperson
Mr Georgi Gotev at the SP Secretariat in Brussels
(Tel: +32 2 401 87 25 or press@stabilitypact.org).

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PR2007/017