The Regional Secretary for Tourism and Transport conveyed the Azorean Government's interest in establishing partnerships in the area of technology for the implementation of new projects in the Azores that bring added value to the Region.

During his visit to the European Space Agency Station on Santa Maria and to the installation works of the Galileo Sensor System Station (GSS), one of the ground segments of the European global navigation satellite system that is being installed on land transferred by Region, Vítor Fraga added that the Government of the Azores is available to assess each particular case since "the transfer of land by the Region should bring advantages for the Azores."

In the case of the installation of this GSS Station, the Regional Secretary reminded that "in addition to creating jobs, we will also have the possibility of using all the information and data collected in these stations in order be developed and worked on by regional entities, particularly the University of the Azores."

Vítor Fraga recalled that these investments, which have been made in the Azores for their geostrategic position, have been reinforced over the years. Once again "we are ready to take a new step" in order "to congregate all the investments that have been made so that they can boost new investments."

The Regional Secretary stressed that "this one the major challenges we will be facing in the near future." In this regard, the Government of the Azores is "strongly committed to helping all those who wish to join us in the development of the aerospace industry, an area where we want to become a global reference in the future."

At this time, we are already considering "the possibility of expanding this project or the implementation of new ones as it is a dynamic process," said Vítor Fraga.

"We have started with a station; we now have a second station under the Galileo project and we believe that will have new projects that can be developed in the Region in the medium-term. In this context, we have a clear perspective regarding the possibility of expanding this station to the land adjacent to the area where we are," concluded the Regional Secretary.

The GSS Station that is being installed on Santa Maria under the Galileo project represents an investment of 600 thousand Euros made by the European Space Agency, which was directly injected into Santa Maria's economy.