The President of the Government met in Ponta Delgada with the members of the Committee on General Policy of the Legislative Assembly, to whom he conveyed information on the various components of the restructuring process of the US military and civilian presence at Lajes Air Base.

At the invitation of Vasco Cordeiro, this was the second working meeting with the members of the Regional Parliament, after a first meeting held in May 2014 to discuss the same subject.

In addition to these meetings, the President of the Government has been in contact with the leaders of political parties represented at the Legislative Assembly of the Azores.

"There has been an exchange of information on this matter and it has been possible to identify common goals towards the defence of importance of safeguarding workers and the economy of Terceira Island," said Vasco Cordeiro to journalists.

With regard to labour issues, the President of the Government mentioned that the conditions have been created so that the downsizing of US forces at Lajes Air Base should be done without redundancies, but through termination by mutual agreement.

"In order for that to happen, it is necessary to not only comply with the written documents but also to embody the spirit of commitments that were taken at the meeting of the Bilateral Commission in Washington," Vasco Cordeiro said, added that, so far, these commitments have been taken and fulfilled."

According to the President of the Government, a second aspect discussed at today's meeting concerns the environmental component, namely the relevance of this issue in the search for a generally satisfactory solution in the process of Lajes Air Base.

"This is a very important matter for the Regional Government, a position that has already been conveyed to the US delegation in the context of the meeting of the Bilateral Commission held in Angra do Heroísmo in late 2015," the President said, stressing that there is still much work to be done.

The working meeting with the members of the Regional Parliament also discussed the future perspectives for Lajes Air Base, a process that is being managed by the US Department of Defence. The latter has to prepare a report on the operational feasibility of the infrastructure for the installation of the Analysis Information Centre that must be submitted to the Congress by March," said Vasco Cordeiro.

The President of the Government also informed the Committee on General Policy about the steps that are being taken with the US Consulate in Ponta Delgada regarding the situation of the weather radar installed on Terceira Island.
 
As for the contactsestablished with the US Consulate, the Government of the Azores has reiterated "the truly essential importance of the data collected by the radar and the need for the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere to have time access to the data without constraints," said Vasco Cordeiro.