The President of the Government met Saturday with a delegation of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress, raising the awareness of Congressmen for the strategic relevance of Lajes Air Base in the relation between both countries.
 
In this meeting, held under a visit made by 11 U.S. Congressmen to the island of Terceira, led Republican Jason Chaffetz, the President of the Government also addressed the capacity of Lajes Air Base in accommodating new services that serve the interests of Portugal and the United States.
 
This is the third visit of the delegations of U.S. Congress Committees of the Congress of the United States to Terceira Island, after the visit of the Committee on Appropriations in August 2015 and the Committee on Intelligence in May of the same year.
 
According to Vasco Cordeiro, the Government of the Azores is available and interested in analysing and supporting the full potential of cooperation between both countries, particularly in the fields of oceanographic research, space and climate.
 
However, the President of the Government considered that this perspective of future cooperation should not forget the needs of the present, which result from the impacts arising from the reduction of U.S. personnel at Lajes Air Base. This situation still requires concrete solutions on the part of Portugal and the United States.
 
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives is the entity responsible for internal investigations on the foundations of the Pentagon’s decision to headquarter the Joint Analysis and Intelligence Complex (JAIC) at Croughton Base in the UK.
 
It should be noted that, in addition to several contacts developed in a reserved manner since the end of 2012, when it was announced the reduction of the U.S. military and civilian personnel at Lajes Air Base, Vasco Cordeiro participated in four meetings of the Permanent Bilateral Commission of the Agreement on Cooperation and Defence between Portugal and the USA; the last of which took place in Washington in May this year.
 
On occasion, the President of the Government highlighted the planned hiring of about 70 Portuguese workers who will make up the staff of the new military forces stationed at Lajes Air Base and the fact that all terminations of employment contracts were carried out by mutual agreement without any situation of outright redundancy.
 
With regard to the environmental component, Vasco Cordeiro also defended the need for the United States "to do more and faster," not only to ensure the full cleaning and mitigation in the areas already identified but also to prevent future environmental impacts.