Vasco Cordeiro says the Azores have "unique conditions" to attract private investment and qualified staff
The President of the Government stated that the Azores have "unique conditions" to attract foreign investment, namely the incentive system, the tax differential, the geographical location and the policies developed by the Regional Government. They are yielding visible results such as the opening of the technological centre of GLINTT - Global Intelligent Technologies, a multinational technology and consulting company, which took place today in Praia da Vitória on Terceira Island.
"Between 2013 and 2018, the projects submitted, already implemented or under implementation, represent 400 million Euros of private investment. More than half of this amount is being invested or has already been invested," Vasco Cordeiro said, stressing that this private investment comes from many parts of the world. Moreover, it "gives consistency to the idea of a new cycle that the Azores are living from an economic standpoint, through the mobilisation of resources, policies and measures to attract investment and stimulate entrepreneurship."
Vasco Cordeiro spoke at the opening ceremony of GLINTT technological centre. On the occasion, he highlighted that the Azores have "an ecosystem that is particularly favourable to investment and entrepreneurship, with perhaps the most comprehensive and attractive system of private investment incentives in the European Union, ensuring non-repayable support rates up to 65%.
A tax differential in the range of 20-30% in comparison with the remaining national territory in personal income tax, corporate tax and VAT, a system of contractual tax benefits that allows corporate tax deductions up to 100% in relevant applications and the exemption or reduction of the Property Transfer Tax and the Municipal Property Tax were other examples pointed out by the President of the Government.
"All this combined with political and social stability, a culture of transparency, a strong commitment to create conditions for innovation, the accessibility to communication infrastructures, such as fibre optics, and our geographical location put us at the centre of the world," said the President of the Government.
In his speech, Vasco Cordeiro highlighted the success already achieved by Terceira Tech Island project. It was developed by the Regional Government under the Economic Revitalisation Plan for Terceira Island (PREIT), following the US Air Force's decision to reduce its military personnel at Lajes Base. The plan was primarily intended to create the conditions to cope with the economic and social effects of this decision on the municipality of Praia da Vitória, the island of Terceira and the Azores.
In this context, the President of the Government pointed out that the installation of GLINTT in Praia da Vitória is the result of the implementation of Terceira Tech Island project. According to him, it aims to "take advantage of the digital revolution occurring everywhere to enhance its effects in terms of retraining human resources and attracting investment, entrepreneurs and qualified staff."
Vasco Cordeiro pointed out the training programme for computer language technicians, highlighting the high rate of employability already achieved. It reached 85% three weeks after the completion of the second course promoted under this project.
The President of the Government recalled that GLINTT is one of the six national and international companies that have decided to invest on Terceira in less than a year since the beginning of this project. Overall, they have created 15 jobs, including 12 new positions, of which 10 were filled by workers who received training under Terceira Tech Island.
"The success achieved with this project gives us the legitimate expectation and the encouragement to remain focused on its development as well as on the implementation of a global strategy in the Azores to harness the potential of science and technology for wealth generation and job creation," said the government official.
In this regard, the President of the Government recalled that the construction of Terceira Science and Technology Park, TERINOV, is about to be completed, an investment of about 10 million Euros directed to areas related to biotechnology and technology transfer to companies. On the island of São Miguel, the Government will shortly launch a public tender for the expansion of the Science and Technology Park, NONAGON, an investment of about five million Euros directed to the areas of technologies applied to materials and information technologies, namely systems of geographic information. As for the island of Faial, besides the construction of the Maritime School, the Regional Government is working on the installation of a technopole that will focus on the fields of marine biotechnology and underwater robotics.