A DELEGATION comprising Isle of Wight Council leader Shirley Smart, deputy Harry Rees and local MEP Roy Perry, has returned from Paris where it was promoting the Island at the Islands Committee of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions.

The meeting was held at the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Paris, where representatives of other European islands such as Majorca, Corsica, Sicily, Sardinia and the Orkneys exchanged views.

Roy Perry said important items on the agenda were how to make sure that the needs of islands were not neglected by the European Union when Europe enlarges to the east and many more landlocked countries with no interest in the needs of islands become members.

"It is really important to keep the needs of islands on the agenda. That is why we need to attend these meetings and make sure the Isle of Wight is not overlooked - and I am quite sure it is not," he said.