Rui Bettencourt restates importance and recognition of the Diaspora's "strategic asset"
The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations restated in Viana do Castelo the importance of the Diaspora and its recognition for the Government at a time of "economic growth and great opportunities that are opening up" in the economy and in the development of society.
Speaking on behalf of the President of the Government at the 2nd Meeting of Investors of the Diaspora, Rui Bettencourt emphasised the importance of the Diaspora's "strategic asset," considering that this has "strong consequences" in the strategic relation policy.
"In fact, we have more than one million ambassadors of the Azores in the world and that is very important," the government official said, emphasising the size of the Diaspora and its strategic positioning.
For government official, there are "several political, economic and social actors" in this reality. In this context, he stressed that investors of the Diaspora "play a fundamental role" in the countries where they reside as well as in the Azores.
"This Diaspora has a heritage and a history. This Diaspora of investors will certainly have a great future," said Rui Bettencourt. According to him, the meeting of investors "is fundamental" and to which the Regional Government has assigned "considerable importance" to its participation in this event.
The Regional Secretary also addressed the "very particular" situation of the Azores, despite being a "dispersed and small region." He also pointed out some of the archipelago's productions, highlighting their value in several areas of activity such as the food industry. It produces "more than 30% of the national milk and more than 50% of the country's cheese," exporting 300 million Euros of dairy products per year.
The government official mentioned the production of tea, the canning industry, the production of proteas (floriculture), wine and tourism have grown exponentially.
Rui Bettencourt also mentioned new areas such as the economy of the sea and aquaculture, highlighting the Atlantic tailoring of the archipelago and its central position in the motorways of the sea in connecting European to America and Canada.
"This put Azores in a central position with new investments and investors are coming for these new investments," said the Regional Assistant Secretary. On the occasion, he took the opportunity to invite all those present to participate in the 1st Regional Meeting of Investors of the Diaspora to be held in the Azores in the first half of 2018.