MSUO

It seems like forever since I posted about the weekend. Most of Sunday was taken up in the Board Meeting where we had an enormously important discussion with the European Maritime Safety Umbrella Organisation (MSUO) about what is required for Europe. For those in the know, the presentation by the Co-ordinator and the discussions about Interreg II and IV were hugely important. Interreg is a series of programmes funded by the EU which deal with very specific policy issues. Interreg IV has about 13om Euros to be spent in some very tightly controlled geographic and policy areas over the next 5 years and these could substantially improve the work KIMO does.

The Comhairle is also trying to tap into another set of Interreg IV funds, so I will be able to bring the personal contact to bear on our application, with a bit of luck.

The entire contact came about after KIMO appeared on the front page of Lloyd's List on 29 Jan on the back of the sinking of the MSC Napoli, and MSUO wanted to meet an organisation that was proactive and forward looking.

The trip to Denmark wasn't a junket (it wasn't paid for by the Comhairle) but might have a huge benefit for the islands in the long run, which is all we can hope to achieve.