Over the last 17 years, NI-CO’s mandated status has allowed the company to make a significant contribution to the UK’s overall involvement in the EU Twinning initiative. NI-CO’s success in institutional twinning to date has largely been founded on the company’s unique government location which not only provides direct access to senior civil service practitioners in all 11 regional government departments in Northern Ireland but also facilitates the  creation of supportive links with central government departments and agencies throughout the United Kingdom.