The Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) came into being on September 19, 1972, when representatives of the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) (since 1975 called the European Space Agency, ESA), Japan, the United States of America, Observers from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the Joint Planning Staff for the Global Atmosphere Research Programme met in Washington to discuss questions of compatibility among geostationary meteorological satellites. EUMETSAT has run the Secretariat since 1987.