The Regional Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, Rodrigo Oliveira, will represent the Azores at the plenary meeting of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union taking place in Brussels this week. The meeting will analyse, among other matters, the promotion of agricultural products in the internal market and in third countries.

The event will take place in the Belgian capital on Wednesday and Thursday. The meeting's agenda comprises several topics, such as the assessment and voting on various reports analysing themes such as the EU expansion strategy, multilevel governance or the quality framework for European traineeships. European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Laszlo Andor, will be one of the guest speakers at this meeting.

The 106th plenary session of the Committee of Regions will also include a debate on the situation in Ukraine, which will be attended by Vladimir Groysman, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, and Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy.

Under this debate, this body will approve a resolution on the situation in that Eastern European country.

The Committee of Region is an advisory body that represents regional and local entities of the European Union. It is currently comprises by 353 members from 28 member states.

The mission of this body is to issue recommendations on current political matters and legislative proposals involving regional and local authorities.

The Autonomous Region of the Azores is represented in the Committee of the Regions by the President of the Regional Government, Vasco Cordeiro, and the Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, Rodrigo Oliveira, as an alternate member.