At the Regional Development Forum for Europe Region which took place on 24 February 2025 in Hungary, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) introduced an expert platform that brings together representatives of governments, regulators, academia, industry and other stakeholders from Europe, to analyze and define strategic areas for advancement in information and communication technologies. The forum presented a regional initiative of five Western Balkan countries: Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and North Macedonia, related to the development of a citizen warning system (Early Warning Systems – EWS).

The forum was preceded by a preparatory meeting "Strengthening the Emergency Preparedness Capabilities in the Western Balkans Countries - Regional Initiative Acceleration Workshop" in Podgorica, which was also attended by a representative of Ratel. The aim of the meeting was to provide insight and appropriate documentation from the countries of the region for the establishment of EWS, which would serve as a basis for providing funds within the International Telecommunication Union to the Western Balkan countries, as an assistance in establishing an early warning system.

The United Nations has set a goal for all inhabitants of the planet to be covered by an early warning system by 2027. The European Union aims for all member states to have an EWS in place by 2022. Investing in EWS is one of the best and most efficient ways to invest resources. EWS can most effectively be established through mobile communications networks that cover about 98% of the world's population, with around 80% of the world's population owning their own mobile device.

At the preparatory meeting (Regional Initiative Accelerator Workshop), experiences from several countries were presented. The Netherlands is one of the first countries to introduce EWS. From 2012, when the system was established, until 2025, about 1,400 warnings were sent through it, about 90% of them fire warnings, followed by weather and flood warnings. The Republic of Türkiye also has a national mobile warning system supporting the CBS emergency alert system, the CMAS system, as well as sending SMS messages for older devices that do not support new notification systems. Romania uses EWS relatively often, and from 2019, all devices must support Cell Broadcast.

The preparatory meeting was designed to present the situation of Serbia and other participating countries from an expert perspective. Trends, opportunities and challenges were analyzed and future projects of the Western Balkan countries related to emergency preparedness were presented. The meeting participants were engaged in the development of an effective plan, intended to encourage regional cooperation and meet specific EWS-related needs and goals of Serbia and other countries. During the workshop, participants of the countries from the region presented the needs of their respective countries in order to create a regional plan taking into account the possibilities, needs and priorities of each country.

The preparatory meeting resulted in a document outlining the basic requirements for early warning systems in the countries from the region, which should be a starting document when applying for funds to be used for assisting the setting up of early warning systems.