Day: 12 June 2019

A vessel working on Monaco’s land extension has suffered a major hydraulic oil leak. This frightening scenario was the basis of a recovery exercise staged this week to test the emergency response should such a catastrophe ever occur off the coast of the Principality.

The anti-pollution exercise was held on the morning of Tuesday 11th June at the site of the urbanisation project at sea. In this fictitious scenario, a hydraulic oil distribution hose broke on the Edmond (Trasomar) barge at 9.03am, spewing oil into the water.

Alert procedures were triggered with various stakeholders, Bouygues TP Mc, State services (Maritime Police, Directorate of Maritime Affairs, Fire Brigade) Société des Ports de Monaco, and the SAM of the Anse du Portier.Seven ships and 20 people were mobilised.

By 9.15am, Ecotank, which is charged by Bouygues TP to control potential accidents, jumps into action. They deploy anti-pollution absorbent dams to soak up the flow of hydraulic oil.

Two pairs of subcontracting teams set up horseshoe-shaped screens to collect possible polluting discharges.

Meanwhile, water skimming is taking place on the surface and the viscous parts of hydrocarbons are being collected on the barge.

Authorities initiate preventive protection of the two marine reserves of Spélugues and Larvotto and the Port Hercules is closed by Maritime Affairs Directorate teams.

Just over an hour after the fictitious accident, at 10.22am, the DPMA declared the exercise over and the anti-pollution screens were removed.

The exercise was designed to measure the effectiveness of emergency procedures and the response of various actors, both public and private, if faced with this type of scenario. It was also analysing the effective coordination of all these stakeholders on the water.

It was organised under the direction of the Division of Maritime and Airport Police (DPMA) in association with the services of the State, including the Fire Brigade Corps and the Direction of Maritime Affairs, as well as Bouygues Travaux Publics Monaco and its subcontractors, the Ports Company of Monaco, the URBAMER mission, and the SAM of Anse du Portier.

The International University of Monaco is set to move from its cramped premises at the Stade Louis II to a new 3,000 m2 space opposite the train station.

Founded in 1986, the International University of Monaco (IUM) boasts a strong multicultural environment, welcoming around 600 students from 75 different nationalities. The faculty is also very international.

The current premises is situated in the Louis II Stadium, but come the end of July, the transition to its new premises will begin. At 3,000 m2, the new building will be 25% larger. It was built and is managed by the Monegasque State.

The IUM offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, specialising in finance, luxury, international management, marketing and sports management. The latter belongs to the INSEEC U group, a private institution comprising 16 grandes écoles and specialised schools in management, engineering sciences, communication and political science.

According to figures, between 15% and 20% of students who leave the Monegasque university become entrepreneurs.

Training courses at IUM cost between 12,000€ per year for a Bachelor’s Degree, 16,000€ to 22,000€ for a Master’s Degree and 35,000€ for an MBA.

The new premises will be open in September 2019.

In addition to the highly coveted Nymph awards, the upcoming Monte Carlo Television Festival will be handing out Special Prizes in collaboration with AMADE, the ICRC, the Monaco Red Cross and SIGNIS.

Judged by expert international juries, the winners of the renowned Special Prizes are selected from a diverse array of entries received from across the globe.

The AMADE Prize, awarded to a television program that explores a contemporary human issue, will go to the French documentary ‘Yémen : Les Enfants et la Guerre’ (Yemen: Kids and War).

Rewarding a documentary that highlights a principle of international humanitarian law, the Press Prize of the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) also goes to ‘Yémen : Les Enfants et la Guerre’ (Yemen: Kids and War).

The English Television film ‘Care’, produced by LA Productions Ltd, will receive the Prize of the Monaco Red Cross, recognising a fiction program that demonstrates the fundamental principles of the Red Cross.

The SIGNIS Prize, the Silver Dove, which highlights and promotes productions that use artistic and technical talent to create inspiring content that encourages reflection, will go to the German Television film ‘Fremder Feind’ (War), produced by Schiwago Film.

In addition, during the Golden Nymphs’ closing ceremony, H.S.H. Prince Albert II will award the Special Prize of Prince Rainier III to a program competing in the news category.

This prize, in honour of the festival’s founder, is awarded to the best programme dealing with nature conservation, the environment, the protection of threatened fauna and flora and the fight against pollution.

This year, the documentaries ‘Drowning In Plastic’ (Raw Tv – United Kingdom) and ‘Klatwa Obfitosci’  (Kruppa Galery – Poland) are nominated for this award.

The Monte Carlo Television Festival runs from 14th to 18th June.

The Monaco Economic Board has used the International Business Forum (SPIEF) held in June to further strengthen business ties with St Petersburg.

With more than 17,000 participants from 140 countries, the SPIEF is a major event in the business world.

MEB relations with Russia are well established following several trade missions to Moscow related to the 2015 ‘Russian Year in Monaco’, as well as another mission planned to Rostov-on-Don in September, and various conferences and delegations hosted in the Principality.

However, St Petersburg – as the country’s second biggest economic region – has not been explored in depth which is why MEB Executive Director General Guillaume Rose and Justin Highman, who heads its Monaco Invest division, took the opportunity provided at SPIEF to organise several work meetings. This was supported by Monaco Ambassador to Russia Mireille Pettiti, and Monaco’s Honorary Consuls in St Petersburg Nikolaï Orlov and Igor Yurgens.

Meetings were held with leaders of loyal regional partners: St Petersburg CCI Vice-President Ekaterina Lebedeva and Business Russia St Petersburg President Dimitry Panov, accompanied by presidents of Innovation, International Trade, Tourism and Construction Commissions, and those from the neighbouring regions of Samara and Vladimir.

According to the MEB, discussions focused on opportunities and common interests and, benefiting from the extensive networks of Monaco’s Embassy and the two Consuls, the MEB received privileged treatment.

The Monegasque delegation took part in plenary sessions and round tables, as well as meetings and working lunches during which they presented the Principality’s economy. There was also a gala dinner attended by key decision-makers from Moscow and St Petersburg.

The MEB says that it should be able to offer entrepreneurs in the Principality yet more opportunities to expand their businesses at a trade mission to St Petersburg planned for 2020.