The Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations stressed in Brussels the "importance" of providing European regions as soon as possible with the operational conditions for the implementation of the new cohesion policy funds. It will provide "a new stimulus to the promotion of employment and competitiveness in the European Union."
 
Speaking on behalf of the President of the Government at the 12th European Business Summit on Wednesday, Rodrigo Oliveira stressed that "the challenges of today are considerably different from those of the past. They also require new responses that should take into account the global and European context as well as the specific challenges of different EU territories."
 
"Boosting the competitiveness of European regions involves factors such as quality and differentiation, and the ability to focus on what others are not capable of doing so well," said Rodrigo Oliveira. The government official stressed the importance of tools like the Smart Specialisation Strategy to promote "the channelling of resources to the most promising areas in terms of comparative and competitive advantages."
 
The Regional Under Secretary presented a paper under the title "How European regions contribute to competitiveness" in which he made a general characterisation of the Autonomous Region of the Azores as well as of its economic sectors. In this regard, he pointed out the priorities of the new programming period of European funds and the relevance of incentive schemes as "fundamental tools to stimulate regional economies, promote competitiveness and business innovation as well territorial cohesion; the latter being a fundamental principle of the European Union."
 
In this context, Rodrigo Oliveira stressed the "importance of Autonomy and the existence of a strong regional power that allows the implementation of the best solutions to support companies and citizens as well as the principle of partnership and multilevel governance with the European Union." This is especially important for territories with specific features or constraints, such as remote islands and Outermost Regions.
 
This session was primarily addressed at the contribution of European regions to competitiveness. It was attended by the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, and the President of the Assembly of European Regions, Hande Özsan Bozatli.

The session was organised by the Assembly of European Regions. This cooperation body brought to the 12th European Summit a delegation of 60 regional representatives from political, technical and business areas; it also included the Society for the Business Development of the Azores (SDEA).