The Regional Secretary for the Presidency for External Relations defended today in Funchal the importance of joint work to promote the so-called "blue growth." The government official stressed that the Azores consider their connection with the sea as a political and strategic option.

"Despite the geographical distance that separates us and as characterises us as an Outermost Region, we regard the collaboration and cooperation with other regions and institutions from our natural space - Macaronesia - as necessary and fundamental. Moreover, we also intend to promote these cooperation efforts in a wide Atlantic perspective, that is, both in European continent and in the North American continent," said Rodrigo Oliveira.

The government official spoke during the opening session of the seminar "Action Plan for the Atlantic: The growth of EU Outermost Regions and European territorial cooperation opportunities. Rodrigo Oliveira stressed "the Maritime Strategy for the Atlantic Region is of utmost importance to the Azores due their geographic location, the nature of their territory and the role of the sea in the everyday lives of Azorean population."

In this regard, the Regional Under Secretary recalled that the Azores are located in the heart of Atlantic and their exclusive economic zone is about one million square kilometres; their EEZ has "an extraordinary diversity of resources, habitats and systems of unaccounted economic potential."

"The Government of the Azores has developed a series of legal tools and programmes for the management of resources, environmental protection and research. They are intended to explore the potentialities of these areas and putting them at the service of sustainable development of the Region, Portugal and Europe," stated the government official. In this regard, he highlighted the role played by the University of the Azores, through its specialised research centres, "which has broaden the knowledge of the Azores sea in various fields."

According to Rodrigo Oliveira, "the maritime dimension readdresses the traditional perspective on Outermost Regions, which is focused on their constraints; it emphasises their actual importance and value as well as their vital contribution to the creation of a new growth paradigm for the European Union."

In addition to the increasing importance of maritime tourism activities, the Under Secretary highlighted "the prospects raised by the underwater exploration of metals of commercial value," such as copper and cobalt, the potentialities of fishing resources and the rich biodiversity.

"These maritime territories are a key factor to the development of new biotechnological processes and products that may lead to innovative tradable goods of commercial value in the areas of health and human and animal nutrition," stressed the government official. However, he warned that Outermost Regions "cannot be just a stage for these findings." In fact, "a concerted action" is necessary so that these regions may effectively benefit from the knowledge and added value brought by these findings.

"The 'blue growth' in the Outermost Regions is divided into four main areas that should be enhanced and addressed in a comprehensive manner: biological resources, mineral resources, energy resources, energy resources and platforms for the most important scientific advances of humanity," stressed Rodrigo Oliveira. In this context, the government official reminded the importance of cooperation between of ORs in Macaronesia for an efficient use of the new EU financial programming period 2014-2020.

"Scientific and technological research in the maritime field is quite expensive and the investment costs are too high to be exclusively supported by the financial resources of a single region or country. In addition, we cannot forget that the benefits of the research conducted here have an international relevance and are 'rendered profitable" by research groups in other parts of the world, notably in the European Union," said the government official.

In this perspective, the Regional Under Secretary defended that cooperation between the regions of Macaronesia should be regarded as "a privileged tool to further promote advanced scientific training, encourage the establishment of partnerships and multidisciplinary working groups. It should also support the consolidation of scientific and technological infrastructures as well as the experimentation and development of marine research and the 'blue growth' of our regions."