Vasco Cordeiro reiterates importance of enhancing Atlantic space for wealth generation and employment creation
The President of the Government of the Azores reiterated today the importance of enhancing the Atlantic space in which the archipelago is located, taking into consideration its potential in the generation of wealth and employment creation.
"We see ourselves in the attention that Ireland has drawn to this process and we keep up with the effort of enhancing this Atlantic space as a space with potential in wealth generation and employment creation," said Vasco Cordeiro.
The President of the Government spoke to journalists at the end of an audience granted to the Ambassador of Ireland in Portugal, Declan O’Donovan.
Vasco Cordeiro recalled that, recently, the Irish Presidency of the European Union has drawn particular attention to sea affairs, particularly with regard to what Europe has to do in order to exploit the potentialities of the Atlantic.
"According to the overwhelmingly majority of EU criteria, the Azores are just a small part of the European Union; however, there is only one criterion on which we dare to think we have a great potential: the sea and the maritime area that exists because of the Azores either in a national context or in the context of the European Union," stressed the President of the Regional Government.
Regarding to the relations between the Azores and Ireland, Vasco Cordeiro admitted that "from an economic standpoint, there is not a very strong relation," but he emphasised the importance that this relation might have "at a political level," particularly with regard to sea affairs in the European context.