EUMETSAT is an inter-governmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by 17 European States : Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK. These States fund the EUMETSAT programmes and are the principal users of the systems. EUMETSAT's primary objective is to establish, maintain and exploit European systems of operational meteorological satellites. EUMETSAT is responsible for the launch and operation of the satellites and for delivering satellite data to end users as well as contributing to the operational monitoring of climate and the detection of global climate change.