Finnish gov't to donate hydrological measuring equipment

BELGRADE - The Finnish government will help the Serbian hydrological services recover from flood-caused damage with a donation of hydrological equipment worth EUR 100,000, said the participants of Friday's initial meeting on a project for rehabilitation and modernisation of hydrological and meteorological observation systems and data exchange procedures in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Jugoslav Nikolic, the head of the Serbian hydrometeorological service RHMZ and the national representative in the World Meteorological Organisation, thanked the Finnish government for the donation, noting that it is very important that the problem has been identified.

"In the May floods last year we had major damage to the hydrological observation system. We are striving to repair and modernise the infrastructure and observation systems as much as we can," he told Tanjug during a break in the Belgrade meeting.

Nikolic expressed hope that the project will contribute to boosting regional cooperation in solving shared problems.

The efforts of the Finnish Foreign Ministry and the country's meteorological institute - which will be in charge of the project and has been cooperating with RHMZ for years - are very highly appreciated, it was said during the meeting.

Finnish Ambassador Pekka Orpana noted that his country is ready to share knowledge and experience in the efforts to repair the damage caused by the floods.

Cooperation and mutual assistance among regional countries is also very significant, the ambassador added.

Orpana noted that Finland supports Serbia on its path to the EU and the European integrations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The meeting was also attended by officials of the World Meteorological...