The Regional Director for Communities stated that the opening of the new Azores Shop in the city of Florianópolis "marks a new phase and renewed proximity in the relations between the Azores and Santa Catarina."

"This space aims to be an open window to the Azores of today and its potentialities as well as the to the legacy that has shaped Florianópolis over the centuries, which is now embedded in its culture as it is visible the Azorean craft arts that are made in Santa Catarina by the House of the Azores", stressed Paulo Teves. The government official spoke Tuesday at the Public Market of Florianópolis during the opening of the new Azores Shop.

In his speech, Paulo Teves stressed that "the House of the Azores of Santa Catarina, like the other 14 Houses of the Azores around the world, has responded to the challenge of the Regional Government to assert "Azoreanity" beyond the core of their action, disseminating it in the promotion of tourism and the opportunities the Region has to offer in several areas." The government official noted that "this new space embodies this partnership of proximity and the willingness to actively contribute to the development of our islands, combined with the reinforcement of cooperation between the Azores and Brazilian public authorities."

The Regional Director for Communities stressed the "great significance" of the presence of several figures at the opening of the Azores Shop, including the Mayor of Florianópolis, César Sousa Junior, who was accompanied by the municipal secretaries of Culture, Luiz Moukarzel, Administration, Gustavo Miroski, Housing, Domingos Zancanaro, Social Assistance, Dejair de Oliveira, and Consumer Defence, Tiago Silva, as well as by the President of Santa Catarina Culture Foundation, Teresinha Debatin. In this context, the government official stressed that the Houses of the Azores "also count on the support of local public entities in order to cover a wider audience and they have more means at their disposal to further promote a relation of proximity and cooperation with the Azores."

"This project also embodies a new phase in the relations between the Government of the Azores and the political institutions where our Houses of the Azores are headquartered," said Paulo Teves. The government official recalled that the transfer of this space was defined in March this year during a meeting attended by the Regional Under Secretary for the Presidency for External Relations, Mayor César Sousa Júnior and the President of the House of the Azores, Jone César de Araújo. The meeting took place during Rodrigo Oliveira's visit to Azorean communities in southern Brazil.

"An innovative project that disseminates the Azores through the provision of tourist information and investment opportunities in the archipelago," the Azores Shop has a space dedicated to the promotion of Azorean crafts, with a rich set of lace pieces, ceramics, fig tree pith and fish scales, and the new launched collection "Azores in a box," a gift from the Regional Centre for Handicrafts.
 
The new Azores Shop is located at Florianópolis Public Market; the latter is a 19th century building and a landmark in the capital of Santa Catarina, whose space was donated by the Florianópolis City Hall to the House of the Azores of Santa Catarina. The Regional Government of the Azores,   Regional Directorate for Communities, supported the remodelling and construction of the shop interiors with the allocation of five thousand Euros.

The Florianópolis Public Market was recently reopened and offers more than a hundred spaces for the promotion of culture and crafts as well as specific areas for restaurants and traditional trade, registering a daily average of about 100 thousand visitors.

On Tuesday, Paulo Teves also attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new Board of the House of the Azores of Santa Catarina which, after the leader of Jone César de Araújo, will be chaired by Sérgio Ferreira for the next three years. Sérgio Ferreira is 6th generation Azorean descendant, who is a professor of History at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. He has an in-depth knowledge on the Azorean presence in southern Brazil.