The Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, Rodrigo Oliveira, participates, on behalf of the President of the Government, in the 21st Conference of Presidents of Outermost Regions (ORs) of the European Union that takes place in Funchal.
 
The meeting will be chaired by Miguel Albuquerque, President of the Government of Madeira and the OR Conference. It will be attended by the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, members of the Portuguese, Spanish and French governments and the European Parliament as well as by the presidents of the remaining eight Outermost Regions.
 
On Thursday, September 22, the works of the Conference will begin with an internal session. Rodrigo Oliveira will speak in the official opening on behalf of the President of the Government, Vasco Cordeiro.
 
This session will address current themes regarding cooperation between ORs, followed by the signing of the Final Declaration that summarises the main political positions of Outermost Regions.
 
The session on "The Outermost Regions and maritime and air transport: challenges and opportunities" will be held in the afternoon of the first day of the works and features the participation of the Regional Director of Transport, Fernando Almeida.
 
In turn, the partnership meeting takes on the following. In addition to the presidents of ORs, it features the following speakers: the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Margarida Marques, the Minister of Overseas France, Ericka Bareigts, and the Director-General of the European Union in Spain, Alejandro Abellán. The event also includes technical visits to Madeira companies.
 
The delegation of the Regional Government, led by the Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, also includes Fernando Almeida, Regional Director of Transport, and Célia Azevedo; the latter is the Region's representative in the Monitoring Committee of ORs, the Conference's technical support body.
 
The Conference of Outermost Regions includes the Presidents of the nine Outermost Regions of the European Union, namely the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Guadalupe, Guyana, Martinique, Mayotte, and Saint-Martin. Their specific statute was defined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union due to their structural characteristics, such as remoteness, insularity, insularity, small size and rough relief and/or climate.
 
The Government of the Azores has held the rotating presidency of the Conference of Presidents of Outermost Regions fro three times; the last of which between 2011 and 2012. This year, the island of Faial hosted the annual meeting of ORs in the city of Horta in September. It was attended by the then Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn.