During December, Dr Tony Ribbink travelled to Washington D.C. to build and cement partnerships with NGOs and US government organizations.

The first objective of the trip was to secure the commitments of partner organizations, Conservation International, Census of Marine Life and National Geographic to making their contributions to the ACEP expedition planned for late 2006. All of these organisations had partnered ACEP in its application to NOAA indicating that they would make contributions in cash and in kind, but none made firm commitments. Meetings with all three of these organisations resulted in positive steps being taken to translate messages of intent into commitments. Secondly, to develop a long-term partnership with NOAA, recommending that NOAA should use ACEP as its platform in the Western Indian Ocean. The recommendation was well received and steps were taken to initiate the process.