DPPI Chair-in-Office Handover Meeting, Zagreb, Croatia 28 January 2009
The National Protection and Rescue Directorate (DUZS), Nehajska 5, Zagreb hosted a DPPI Chair-in-Office Handover Meeting at 10 o’clock on 28 January 2009. The meeting was attended by heads of national protection and rescue services of Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia, as well as by the Head of DPPI Secretariat.
Croatian Delegation (National Protection and Rescue Directorate and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration - MVPEI):
1. Mr Damir Trut, Director, DUZS
2. Ms Željka Barić, Head of Regional Initiative Department, MVPEI
3. Mr Zdravko Šuker, Head of Director’s Cabinet, DUZS
4. Mr Damir Čemerin, Deputy Commander, Civil Protection Sector, DUZS
5. Ms Arabela Vahtarić, Head of Foreign Relations Department, DUZS
6. Ms Dajana Tokić, Interpreter, Foreign Relations Department, DUZS
7. Mr Igor Milić, Expert Assistant, Foreign Relations Department, DUZS
Slovenian Delegation (Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief):
1. Mr Branko Dervodel, Deputy Director
2. Ms Nataša Horvat, Senior Adviser, International Relations and EU Department
Macedonian Delegation (Protection and Rescue Directorate):
1. Mr Trajko Todorčevski, Head of Inspection Department
Mr Saban Saliu, Director of Macedonian Protection and Rescue Directorate was unable to
attend the meeting due to unexpected obligations.
DPPI Secretariat:
1. Mr Orhan Topcu, Head of DPPI Secretariat,
The objective of the meeting was the handover of Chair-In-Office from the Republic of
Croatia which had chaired the DPPI in 2008 to the Republic of Macedonia which would chair
the Initiative in 2009.
The meeting took the course of the stipulated agenda:
1. Implementation of the Work Plan for 2008
2. Work Program and Priorities for 2009
3. Institutional Issues – DPPI Secretariat
4. Any other business
Ad 1
Mr Damir Trut gave an overview of the activities conducted during Croatia’s 2008 Chair-In-Office. He highlighted DPPI projects, cooperation with international partners and administrative issues that had to be resolved in order to enable the smooth operation of DPPI Secretariat (job vacancy announcement and selection of the new head of the Secretariat, employment contracts for him and his financial assistant, procedure concerning financial issues between DPPI Chair-in-Office and the RCC Secretary General, decision on the new DPPI logo to be used).
Mr Trut also mentioned that a two-year Strategy and the Action Plan had been drafted and that it was necessary for certain rules to be put in place regarding the reimbursement of expenditures related to meetings and activities within DPPI.
Mr Branko Dervodel stressed that the “Troika” model had proved a good model of cooperation which should be continued in the future, the same model being used for handover of EU Presidency.
Ms Željka Barić remarked that DPPI had proven to be one of the most successful
initiatives that passed into regional ownership from the Stability Pact.
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Mr Trajko Todorčevski said that Macedonia’s 2009 Chair-in-Office would continue the good cooperation between member states, as well as the implementation of the ongoing projects. He stated that the implementation of the JERU project should be intensified and the joint firefighting project of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia broadened to other countries of the region sharing the forest fires problem.
He also stressed that projects implementation should involve more experts in the region and that cooperation with the EU should be strengthened making use of EU membership of Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania. In addition, bilateral agreements between DPPI countries in the field of protection and rescue should be further encouraged.
Mr Damir Čemerin reminded of the obligations to be fulfilled before the next Ministerial Meeting of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), relating to adoption of the DPPI Strategy and the Action Plan, that had been presented at 17 October 2008 regional meeting in Skopje, Macedonia. The documents should be adopted at the next regional meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 06 and 07 April 2009.
Ms Željka Barić said that the Ministerial Meeting was unlikely to be held during Moldova’s SEECP chair-in-office, which would end on 01 July 2009, to be handed over to the Republic of Turkey so that the Ministerial Meeting would probably take place during Turkey’s chairinoffice.
Mr Branko Dervodel informed of the Hot Fire Training for DPPI countries taking place at Ig training center, Slovenia, from 15 through 20 March 2009, organized by Slovenia’s Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief and Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency – MSB. He also stated that on 15 January 2009 the Republic of Slovenia had ratified the Memorandum of Understanding on the Institutional Framework of DPPI.
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Mr Orhan Topcu reported on finance issues of DPPI Secretariat. DPPI account, being RCC sub-account, did not provide for timely check of the account balance and made transactions difficult. He also stated that DPPI Secretariat was looking for a new location in Sarajevo because the existing one was inadequate and expensive, although it is located in a good neighbourhood.
Furthermore, he noted that a principle for all future projects should be in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction and that certain guidelines and procedures should be put in place for a more effective operational work of DPPI regarding, administrative, financial, logistic, information technologies, project development, fund raising, training and etc.
His presentation included the status of paid annual contributions of member states. The 2008 contributions had been paid by Albania, Moldova, Slovenia, Turkey and Croatia, while contributions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia were still pending.
Mr Branko Dervodel stated that if DPPI Secretariat was too understaffed to accomplish its
tasks, a possible solution was for the countries to “second” their personnel to Secretariat for a
certain period of time.
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The last item on the agenda dealt with lecturers’ fees concerning activities within Disaster Management Training Program (DMTP). Opinions of the countries involved had differed so that the next regional meeting should bring forth DPPI guidelines concerning this issue. The attendees recognized the excellent results achieved during Croatia’s Chair-in-Office and extended best wishes for success of the 2009 DPPI Chair-in-Office, the Republic of Macedonia.
