The 51st Regional Meeting of the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Initiative for South-Eastern Europe (DPPI SEE) took place in Belgrade from 25–27 March 2026, hosted by the Republic of Serbia’s Ministry of the Interior – Sector for Emergency Management. Over three days, national delegations, civil protection authorities, and international partners gathered to strengthen cooperation and advance resilience across South-Eastern Europe.

On 30 September and 1 October 2025, the 50th Regional Meeting of the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Initiative for South-Eastern Europe (DPPI SEE) was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The event gathered representatives of the member states together with partners from international and regional organizations, creating a platform to reflect on achievements, exchange knowledge, and discussing the future of disaster preparedness and prevention in South-Eastern Europe.

The 49th DPPI SEE Regional Meeting took place from 27–29 April 2025 in Bucharest, hosted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Romania — Department for Emergency Situations.

This week, between 25–28 November 2024, DPPI SEE Secretariat and the Türkiye national civil protection authority (AFAD) successfully hosted the 48th DPPI SEE Regional Meeting in Gaziantep, bringing together member states and partners to advance disaster preparedness and resilience across South-Eastern Europe. Key Highlights: Opening Remarks: Insightful speeches from representatives of DPPI SEE (including AFAD) and international partners.

Rescue and Protection Directorate of North Macedonia in their capacity of Chair in Office with DPPI SEE for 2024 hosted the 47 th DPPI SEE Regional meeting in Skopje on the 7th March 2024.MEETING ATTENDANCE Participants: 23 registered participants representing all DPPI SEE member states and RCC, along with 4 participants competing in the election process for the new Head of Secretariat.Conclusions from the 47th DPPI SEE Regional meeting:After a successful election process, Mr. Rade Rajkochevski was elected as the new Head of Secretariat of DPPI.

The 46.DPPI SEE Regional meeting was held in Podgorica on the 28 December in hybrid mode. During the meeting the Midterm review report on implementation of the Strategic Development Plan 2021-2025 was presented. During the last session of the agenda, the member states had the chance to discuss options for further developments of the Initiative. Organizing the new elections for the position Head of Secretariat and solving the legal status of the Secretariat are the short term priorities.

The 45th DPPI SEE Regional meeting once again joined together the member states in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the working sessions of the meeting the Annual Work Plan for 2023 was reviewed and action points agreed. We were honored to have the Minister for Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr.Nenad Nesic with us during the opening of the meeting. Among other things he expressed support for the role and the mandate of the Initiative.

The 44th DPPI SEE Regional meeting was held in Dubrovnik, Croatia in the period 25-26 October 2022. This time the Regional meeting was held back to back with the high level panel on DRR financing and the workshop on the same topic. The regional meeting was used to review the implementation of the Annual Work Plan for 2022 and prepare for the activities in 2023. In relation to the annual training program, 2022 will be completed with total number of 12 events supported and with over 230 participants attending those events.

The 43.DPPI SEE Regional meeting took place on 23-24 March in Zagreb, Croatia. It was a hybrid event with 5 delegations being physically present in Zagreb and 5 delegations following the meeting online. The meeting was hosted by the Civil Protection Directorate of Republic of Croatia in their capacity of Chair in Office with DPPI SEE for 2022.

Under the chairmanship of DG Fire Safety and Civil Protection of Republic of Bulgaria the 42nd DPPI SEE Regional meeting has been completed this week. During the first day of the meeting the achievements in 2021 were presented in accordance to DPPI SEE Strategic Development Plan 2021-2025. Although a challenging year due to COVID-19, DPPI SEE succeed to the set objectives focusing on trainings, analytical work and project management.

For the second time in a row DPPI SEE had its regional meeting online due to COVID-19. The online environment enabled record number of participation during the meeting with over 60 attendants representing national governments, international organizations, research foundations, team leaders of relevant regional projects and universities.

DPPI SEE Secretariat in coordination with the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Sector for Rescue and Protection hosted the 40th DPPI SEE regional meeting conducted online. 22 participants representing Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, N. Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey attended the online meeting.

During 21-22.11.2019 DPPI SEE held its 39th Regional meeting. The aim of this meeting was to review the Annual Work Plan for 2019, reflect on the results achieved and prepare for 2020. During the meeting the first concept of the Strategic Development Plan of DPPI SEE 2020-2024 was presented. The plan itself will be designed to enable stronger collaboration among the member states on various topics and creating partnerships. It is expected that by the end of 2019 this plan will be endorsed by the member states.

General Directorate for Civil Emergencies of Republic of Albania in its role of DPPI SEE Chair in Office for 2019, hosted the 38th DPPI SEE Regional meeting in Tirana. During the meeting DPPI SEE member states had the opportunity to discuss the financial affairs of the Initiative and review the implementation of the Annual Work Plan for 2019.

The 37th DPPI SEE Regional meeting held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (06-07.11.2018) was used to review the operational and financial status of the Initiatives and to decide about the future activities. Under the Chairmanship of Turkey, DPPI SEE member states had the possibility to discuss the Annual Work Plan for 2019 and the content of the Disaster Management Training Program for 2019.

As of July 4, 2018 DPPI SEE is one step closer towards completing the procedures for its legal status. Four DPPI SEE member states Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia signed the Host Country Agreement in Sarajevo. In the upcoming weeks Albania will be ready to do so after which the national authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina will proceed with final endorsement and ratification. This extraordinary meeting was also used to initiate planning of DPPI SEE activities for 2019 by the Trio Mechanism (Romania, Turkey and Alabnia).

The meeting was hosted by the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey (AFAD) in its capacity of the DPPI SEE Chair-In- Office 2018 and is organized in close cooperation with the DPPI SEE Secretariat.

Meeting attendance  Participants: DPPI SEE member countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey), European Commission, Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), UNISDR and MSB- IPA DRAM.   DAY I – 35th DPPI SEE regional meeting   Opening remarks by DPPI SEE Chair-in-Office 2017 (Romania)

Romanian General Inspectorate of Emergency Situations (IGSU), Ministry of Interior of Romania, hosted and chaired the first biannual DPPI SEE regional meeting in 2017. Over the course of the two consecutive days, the DPPI SEE members discussed and reviewed the progress achieved through implementation of the annual work programme of the Initiative in the period November 2016 – April 2017, while building upon the outcomes of the 33rd DPPI SEE regional meeting held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 15 – 16 November 2016.

Republic of Slovenia (Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, ACPDR) chaired the 2016 autumn session of the DPPI SEE regional meeting in its role of the DPPI SEE Chair-in-Office for the year 2016. Over the course of the two-day meeting, the DPPI SEE member countries reviewed the progress of implementation of the annual work programme of the Initiative, notably in the period April – November 2016 while building upon the outcomes of the 32nd DPPI SEE regional meeting held in Portorož, Slovenia, 5 – 6 April 2016