The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations stated in Ponta Delgada that the Azores also have "a geostrategic position for holding international events."
 
"We have here, at this meeting, the demonstration that the Azores can organise events from all countries on the world stage and are attractive for this," said Rui Bettencourt. He spoke at the opening of the annual meeting of ISO - International Standard Organisation, pointing out that there is an increasing logistics capacity and more transport options to and from the archipelago.
 
For the government official, this is an important matter as far as it concerns the "attractiveness" of the Azores in the world, besides the importance of quality certification. As he emphasised, the organisation of a meeting held by a world organisation such as ISO demonstrates that the Region "has the ability and also the desire to hold such international events."
 
In his speech, the government official highlighted the work carried out by this international organisation towards quality certification worldwide. This is "one of the major factors in the competitiveness of companies as well as in the improvement of the functioning of organisations."
 
Rui Bettencourt also highlighted that there are several Regional Government departments are certified as well as several private organisations.
 
"There are efforts towards the quality certification in the Azores, which is a good sign for the functioning of the Azorean society and the Azorean economy," said the Regional Secretary.
 
The government official also noted that more than 180 people from one hundred countries, including Japan, Australia, Russia, China, the United States of America or Canada, are in the Azores to participate in this plenary session, where they will discuss the major issues related to quality and certification.