The European Commission has signed an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to set up a regional Crisis Response Centre and Early Warning System at the League of Arab States. The Centre aims strengthening the capacities of the Arab region in crisis prevention and response through enhanced cooperation between the Secretariat General of the League of Arab States (SGLAS), the European Commission (EC) and the UNDP.

The Centre will be established at the Secretariat of the League of Arab States (LAS) in Cairo. The European Commission (EC) is providing Euro 1,925,190 for this initiative, which will be implemented during 2011-2012.

Other specific objectives of the center include:

• Strengthening capacities of the SGLAS to respond to political, social, economic and environmental crises.
• Operationalizing capacity within the SGLAS for gathering and channeling of early warning signals and their analysis in support of early action.
• Systematizing a long-term dialogue between the SGLAS, the EC and UNDP in the fields of risk analysis, crisis response, conflict prevention and peace-building in order to promote the exchange of information, notify each other in a timely manner, and cooperate on the identification of mutually acceptable solutions to crisis situations

The Crisis Response Centre, once established, will have the capacity to provide analysis and warning to the leadership of Arab States about all emerging crises situations in the region, whether they are related to environmental disasters- earthquakes, floods, droughts, man-made industrial disasters and conflicts or development related crises; e.g. food in-security.

The Centre will have the capacity for rapid access to "open source" information, its collation, analysis and dissemination to the leadership of the LAS and through it, to its Member States in view to monitor potential crisis situations and to organize a coordinated and effective response.

It is expected that upon its establishment, the Crisis Response Centre and Warning System would perform the following functions:

• Produce analytical reports on periodical basis about brewing crisis situations, the geographic regions and countries to be affected, estimates of potential damages and losses and actions that can be taken by national governments, by the LAS and by other stakeholders to prevent those crises, and to respond to them effectively when they occur;
• Disseminate above analytical reports to LAS leadership, national crisis management departments, and relevant international players when appropriate or needed;
• Produce early warning messages about eminent crises and issue early warning to regional and national stakeholders for organizing timely response;
• Assist the LAS leadership in organizing regional efforts for crisis prevention and response, if required by the situation;
• Organize periodical conference and training for national crisis management departments in order to establish and maintain effective capacities for crisis management;
• Maintain partnerships with global institutions for implementing regional strategies for crisis prevention and response.