The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, Rui Bettencourt, will take part in the 22nd Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions of the European that takes place in French Guiana on Thursday and Friday.
 
Rui Bettencourt represents the President of the Government at the meeting, as Vasco Cordeiro will be accompanying the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in the second part of his visit to the Azores between October 25 and 28.
 
The meeting will be attended by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, as well as by members of the governments of Portugal, Spain and France and the European Parliament.
 
The 22nd Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions will carry out a joint analysis of a new European Commission's Communication on the Outermost Regions to be published this week and to be presented in Guyana.
 
This renewed EU strategy for Outermost Regions (ORs) will also be discussed with President Juncker.
 
The works of the Conference begin Thursday, October 26, in Kourou, with the official opening and an internal session; Rui Bettencourt will speak at this session.
 
This session provides a moment of debate between Outermost Regions ORs on topics of major interest and relevance in the context of their participation in the European Union. It will also discuss current issues and cooperation between Outermost Regions at a time when the 2020 strategy is under discussion.
 
During Thursday afternoon, the Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations participates in a visit to the Guyanese Space Centre in Kourou, which will also be attended by the president of the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), Jean-Yves Le Gall.
 
On Friday, the partnership session will be held in Cayenne. In addition to the speeches delivered by all presidents of the Outermost Regions, it also includes the speeches of the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
 
The 22nd Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions will also be marked by the signing of the Final Declaration, which will summarise the main political positions of the Outermost Regions. Furthermore, the nine regions will sign the agreement of the ORs Network S3 - Smart Specialisation Strategy Network.
 
In this visit to French Guiana, the Regional Secretary is accompanied by the Regional Director for European Affairs, Célia Azevedo, who, in addition to participating in the Conference works, also takes part in the Monitoring Committee of ORs. The latter is the technical support body of the Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions in charge of preparing the Conference as well as the documents to be approved by the Presidents at 22nd meeting.
 
The Conference of the ORs comprises the Presidents of the Governments of the nine Outermost Regions of the European Union: the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Reunion, Mayotte and Saint-Marti. They have a specific statute as defined in Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union due to their structural characteristics, such as their remoteness, insularity, small size, rough relief and difficult climate.
 
The Government of the Azores has held the rotating presidency of the Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions three times: 1998, 2004 and in 2011/2012.