6 July 2009: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have announced that they will work together to support southeast European countries to build up their national and regional capacities to collect and share meteorological data in order to develop better warning systems, in line with European Union (EU) standards.

The programme will seek to: strengthen cross-border cooperation among weather and climate information providers and disaster management agencies; harmonize legislative and institutional mechanisms; strengthen infrastructure and human capacity for weather and climate observations; and improve risk assessments and early warning systems for weather and climate extremes.
The programme is financially supported by the European Commission (EC), and builds on an early assessment phase that was supported by the World Bank and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR). [WMO press release] [UN press release]