The Regional Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations welcomed in Corfu, Greece, the immense satisfaction of the Regional Government with the holding of the next General Assembly of the Islands Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) in the Region.
"The Regional Government was immensely pleased with the positive response to the invitation sent to CPMR's Islands Commission to convene this General Assembly in the Azores in the second quarter of 2020," said Rui Bettencourt. He spoke on the sidelines of the 39th Annual Assembly, where this announcement was made.
The Secretary for External Relations stressed that the reelected President of the Islands Commission and President of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni, "was very understanding" in regard to the holding of this meeting in the Azores, "which also intends to show the Azorean reality to a certain number of European policy makers."
"With this invitation and the organisation of the General Commission of CPMR's Islands in the Azores, the Regional Government also intends to show the Azores to several Community policy makers from various islands of the European Union so that they may have a better perception of the Azores and our reality," said the government official.
On the other hand, Rui Bettencourt highlighted that the Regional Government wishes "to turn these policy makers into allies for the defence of the Azores' position in terms of their cohesion policy, their development policy, the issue of transport and all EU matters related to the Azores."
The Islands Commission, which represents about 15 million inhabitants, is the oldest of the six geographical commissions of CPMR; the latter is an interregional cooperation organisation chaired by Vasco Cordeiro since 2014 that encompasses 150 member regions from 28 European states.
Its members represent 23 European island regional authorities from 11 countries in the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea as well as in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The purpose of this Committee is to urge Member States to pay particular attention to the islands, to recognise the permanent constraints arising from their insularity and to implement policies that are most appropriate to their situation in order to promote cooperation among islands, namely on matters directly related to their insularity.