Islands Minister Derek Mackay is to travel to Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles to talk to people about their devolution of power aspirations.
Islands Minister Derek Mackay said he supported the principal of local decision making and wanted to speak to communities about how best to drive economic growth.
He held talks with Angus Campbell, Gary Robertson and Steven Heddle, who lead Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney councils respectively, at a meeting of the island areas ministerial working group in Glasgow yesterday.
Local authority chief executives, Business, Energy and Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing and Local Government and Community Empowerment Minister Marco Biagi were also in attendance.
Mr Mackay said the appointment of an islands minister underlined the Scottish Government’s commitment to ensuring the “unique nature and needs” of island communities were championed.
“This government is committed to the principle of local decision making,” he added.
“We have now entered a phase of detailed negotiations on proposed further devolved legislation on the back of the Smith Commission report.
“It is essential if the new legislation is to deliver on both the letter and the spirit of the Smith Commission proposals and the people of these islands should not – and will not – accept anything less.
“I am personally keen to engage in discussions directly with the people who live and work in island communities and will therefore be undertaking a series of visits in the months ahead to hear their views face to face.”
Mr Campbell, speaking on behalf of the three island authorities, said plans to devolve Crown Estate revenues and management of Crown Estate assets to local communities were discussed at the meeting.
He said the principal of ensuring nationally-set policies do not have an adverse impact on island communities was also touched on.
Mr Campbell said: “We remain confident that we can secure real benefits for our islands through our campaign and as we progress the detail of implementing proposals.”
The working group will meet a total of six times between now and early 2016.