The President of the Government will chair the General Assembly of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR) to be held this week in Madeira, the main annual meeting of this interregional cooperation organisation. The opening session will be attended by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
 
The 46th meeting of CPMR will involve the participation of more than 220 delegates, including Presidents of European regions, elected politicians representing the members of CPMR, MEPs and senior officials of the European Commission.
 
The opening session, scheduled for Thursday, will be chaired by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. In addition to the participation of Vasco Cordeiro, as President of CPMR and the Regional Government, the event will be attended by Commissioner Carlos Moedas, the representative of the Austrian Presidency of the European Union Council, Ambassador Robert Zischg, and the President of the Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque.
 
During the working session, the representatives of the European regions will analyse matters such as the future of Europe, the next Community Budget and Cohesion Policy, culminating in the definition of a political position to be adopted by the CPMR. It will be presented to Community institutions in the context of the ongoing negotiations on European Union funds and the preparation for the forthcoming European Parliament elections, scheduled for next year.
 
The agenda of this General Assembly also includes panels on accessibility and transport, Integrated Maritime Policy, migration and climate change, the areas where the CPMR has been working more closely towards the development of policies and influence with European decision makers.
 
The mission of CPRM is to defend the interests of its members within national and European institutions, through the promotion of territorial cohesion and regional power in Europe as well as through the reinforcement of the peripheral and maritime dimension of the European Union.
 
The CPMR has several working groups on specific themes of interest to maritime regions and is divided into six geographic commissions (Islands, Atlantic Arc, North Sea, Baltic Sea, Intermediterranean, Balkans and Black Sea).