Between 17 and 19 March 2014, the MOIG Director was invited by the International Environmental Marine and Services (IEMS); MOIG Member; based in Cairo-Egypt.

Several meetings were held in Cairo-Egypt between MOIG Director and various Oil and Gas industry personnel such as: the CEO of EGPC and IEMS, Chairmen of GANOPE and IEMS, Vice Chairmen of EGAS and GANOPE and the HSE Manager of Shell Egypt in order to promote MOIG.

A meeting was also held at the IEMS Headquarter in Cairo between an IEMS team and the MOIG Director. This meeting was devoted entirely to the planning and preparation of the upcoming Kerkennah Tier 1 Oil Spill Response exercise.

Both parties agreed on the exercise date, exercise flyer, scenario, logistical arrangements and the agenda. It was also agreed to create an Exercise Steering Committee (ESC) that shall consist of several MOIG members and will contribute to the exercise development.

On the other hand, a meeting was also performed between MOIG Director and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency Disasters Management Director (EEAA) and provided a good opportunity to see functioning of the EEAA control room. Both parties have undertaken fruitful discussions on oil spill preparedness and response in Mediterranean region and agreed to strengthen cooperation and information exchange.

This visit was also a good opportunity to promote the forthcoming MOIG Regional Workshop scheduled to be held over 16-17 October 2014 in Nicosia-Cyprus.

We would like to thank the IEMS Chairman and CEO for their support to MOIG and for facilitating all these meetings.