The CALYPSO South progress meeting was held in conjunction with MALTEX 2018. This is a national pollution response exercise organised by Transport Malta in collaboration with EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency). The exercise provided an opportunity to showcase the support that the CALYPSO South project offers to oil spill response with HF radar observations and numerical models. As a dedicated project activity the exercise served to improve best practices and to test the deployment of additional technological assistance by drones and Lagrangian drifters. This year the exercise also availed of state of the art new equipment provided by EMSA as part of the Equipment Assistance Service, consisting of a combined recovery system which has the possibility to be deployed by a single vessel.

The MALTEX 2018 exercise was held one day prior to the progress meeting. Sicilian stakeholders were invited to attend as observers. The first meeting of the Cross-border Stakeholder Work Group Task 4.1, chaired by Transport Malta gave the partners and stakeholders the opportunity to discuss the outcome of the exercise. During the meeting the scope and targets of the WG were discussed between Maltese and Sicilian stakeholders, and a plan of work was suggested.

	Full Group Committee meeting (all project partner representatives) Chaired by Prof. Aldo Drago, CALYPSO South Project Leader
09:00	CALYPSO South Progress of Work – Planned activities and deliverables; Plan of work for the next six months of the project Prof. Aldo Drago, CALYPSO South Project Leader
10:00	Review on activities and arrangements by the Sicilian partners Dott. Giuseppe Ciraolo, CALYPSO South Sicilian Focal Point
10:30	Coffee break
11:00	Presentations by project partners
12:30	Lunch offered by organisers
	1st meeting of the Cross-border Stakeholder Working Group Task 4.1 Chaired by Capt. Richard Gabriele, Transport Malta
13:30	Overview of WG scope and agenda Brief presentation by WG members Follow up to MALTEX 2018 - lessons learnt and exchange of experiences Preparation of plan of activities
15:30	Coffee break
	Steering Committee meeting (Delegated SC members and WP leaders) Chaired by Prof. Aldo Drago, CALYPSO South Project Leader
15:45	Project administrative matters and preparation of the first reporting and project claim of expenses Ms. Jessica Busuttil, UM and Ms. Alba Abbate, UNIPA
	Review of project activities; Assessment of results, progress and problems encountered by WP; CALYPSO info and publicity strategy; Plan and commitments for next six months; Review of management procedures for project implementation; Other matters requiring the approval of the Steering Committee
17:45	Closure