28th DPPI SEE Regional Meeting, 23 - 24 April 2014, Pržno, Montenegro

The XXVIII DPPI SEE Regional meeting was held on 23 - 24 April 2014 in Pržno, Montenegro and was hosted by the Directorate for Emergency Management of the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro in its capacity of the DPPI SEE Chair-in-Office 2014. At this year's first regional meeting which further aimed at identifying needs and priorities of the DPPI SEE member states in dealing with the disaster preparedness and prevention related challenges, representatives of nine (9) DPPI SEE member states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey) participated in the meeting. In addition to its regular closed sessions reserved for the DPPI SEE member states' discussions on the DPPI SEE institutional issues, the meeting, as per usual practice, repeatedly serves as a forum for an exchange of information on other regional interventions undertaken by the DPPI SEE's existing and potential partners engaged in addressing disaster preparedness, prevention and disaster risk reduction with special focus on cross-border cooperation in the SEE. During the open session of the regional meeting, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) updated the Regional Meeting on their on-going DRR activities in the South Eastern Europe and Europe and the way towards the 2015 post-HFA (UNISDR-WMO IPA project "Building Resilience to Disasters in the Western Balkans and Turkey": 1. EU-IPA DRR Exchange of Experts, 2. seeKMS: An Information and Knowledge Management System for DRR and CCA in the Western Balkans and Turkey). European Commission (DG ECHO) representative presented and discussed with the DPPI SEE member states - IPA beneficiaries on a potential topic for a new regional  programme (Risk Assessment and mapping). German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) gave an overview of this governmental organisation system and activites while the Italian Civil Protection Department  presented the Italian National platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and Italian programme for the semester of the European Council presidency. Presentations were also delivered by Disaster Management and Emergency Situations Presidency of Turkey (AFAD) and Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief of the Republic of Slovenia (URSZR).   The closed session proceedings included discussion on the ongoing and future implementation of the DPPI SEE Disaster Management Training Programme for the year 2014 (18 activities in total) and a planned procurement of personal protection equipment within the DPPI SEE project «Joint Emergency Response Units in case of floods». The DPPI SEE Secretariat, with support from the delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, updated on the forthcoming and activities pending in relation to the ratification of the DPPI SEE Memorandum of Understanding 2013 and finalisation of the DPPI SEE Host Country Agreement.   On the occasion of the XXVIII regional meeting, Ivana Ljubojevic was re-elected to a second term as the Head of DPPI SEE Secretariat and Vildana Bijedic to that of the Administrative/ Finance Assistant. The next regular session of the DPPI SEE regional meeting is tentatively scheduled for first half of November 2014. Presentations: European Commission (DG ECHO) - Regional IPA 2015 Working Document UNISDR-WMO IPA project Task 1_Exchange of Experts UNISDR-WMO IPA project Task 2_seeKMS Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW)_ A governmental organisation based on volunteers Italian Civil Protection Department - HFA in Italy/ Italian semester of presidency of EU Council Turkish experience - Disaster Risk Management Capacity development project_Case study_Bursa Slovenian experience - 112 Caller smart locator Slovenian Experience - Sleet disaster (February 2014) Slovenian Experience -  Sleet disaster (February 2014) - photo gallery