The Regional Secretary for Education and Training, Lina Mendes, presided over, one behalf of the President of the Government, the opening ceremony of the exhibition “Christmas in Europe” at the “Portas do Mar” in Ponta Delgada on Friday.
In the official opening speech, Lina Mendes addressed in English to the trainees and teachers of twenty tourism and hotel schools from several European countries and stressed the contribution of this event for the promotion of Azores and their cultural identity.
The exhibition, organised by the Ponta Delgada Tourism and Hotel School with the support of the Regional Government of the Azores, is included in the official programme of the European Region of the Year 2010 and it aims to disseminate the traditions of different European communities attending the event in various areas: cuisine, traditions, legends and music. At this event visitors may savour cuisine specialities, admire handicraft pieces and become acquainted with the cultural traditions of different countries.
The Regional Secretary for Education and Training considered the Christmas theme as a contribution to the sharing and exchange of cultures and knowledge among several countries, thus ensuring that tourism and the quality of professional training enhance the economic sector.
In this context, Lina Mendes assured that public and private vocational training schools are increasingly playing a vital role for the training and qualification of youngsters, which is demonstrated by the increase from 11 to 18 vocational training schools in the Azores in ten years as well as by the good reference of the Tourism and Hotel School in the restaurant sector.
The Regional Secretary also emphasised the importance of disseminating vocational training in the Azores abroad, particularly in Europe, in order to update knowledge and better respond to the needs of a more demanding labour market and, in this context, the exhibition “Christmas in Europe” is a good opportunity to do so.