On Thursday the 21st of April, a meeting has taken place of the NIWE (Network Inland Waterways Europe). The meeting was hosted by Canal & River Trust, one of the partners in the NIWE. On the Limehouse Basin in London came 10 representatives from 5 different countries gathered for an interesting agenda.
The agenda was focused on INTERREG Europe, they support interregional cooperation throughout Europe, and helps NIWE in the achievement of the goals through financing. NIWE is working on the future of the notably smaller waterways and supports several projects. NIWE is also developing a knowledge centre: a unique information exchange system for NIWE members with topics related to the waterways and management.
NIWE is currently involved in the North Sea region Interreg programme which will be evaluated in September. The projects arising from this are: DIME (support for micro-enterprises on our waterways), Blue Hubs, End or lifeboat (end of the life of the boat) and Small Hydro-systems. There are still opportunities to involve new partners in these projects.
The latest call for projects in the Atlantic Interreg programme has yielded positive conversations between Canal & River Trust, Waterways Ireland and Lagan Canal Trust. The NIWE welcomes a new Member: Rudy van der Ween, who represents the city of Ghent. The future of NIWE looks positively with a large number of projects in the pipeline, all with the common goal: increasing the quality of the network of smaller waterways.
