The President of the Government stated today that the meeting of the Permanent Bilateral Commission, which was held Tuesday in Washington, made important progress in the matters concerning the American presence at Lajes Air Base and also considered the possibility of alternative uses for this base on Terceira Island.

"This effort paid off not only because we made significant progress on the issue concerning the presence of the U.S. Air Force at Lajes, but also because we were able to consider the possibility of alternative uses for that base, following a report that is being prepared by the House of Representative. It focuses on the possibility of using the base for the installation of a U.S. analytical information centre," said Vasco Cordeiro.

In regard to labour issues, the President of the Government announced to journalists that the Commission ensured an increase in the number of Portuguese workers at Lajes Air Base, pointing out that the initial number of 378 workers grew to 405.

"Furthermore, U.S. authorities will award priority status to the situations of workers who wish to terminate their work contract by mutual agreement," added Vasco Cordeiro.

If the data of the preliminary survey conducted by U.S. Air Force to determine the number of Portuguese workers available terminate their work contract by mutual agreement are confirmed, Vasco Cordeiro considered that "we may be talking about a situation where, probably, there will be no redundancies at Lajes."

"If these figures are indeed confirmed, the restructuring process will most likely reduce the number of workers by mutual agreement," said Vasco Cordeiro. In this regard, the President of the Government revealed that it was established in the final declaration that will not be any redundancy at Lajes Air Base until March 2016. As for the cases of contract termination by mutual agreement, this process will start immediately.

This meeting of the Bilateral Commission also analysed the issue of infrastructures, namely the rehabilitation of some infrastructures required by the U.S. Air Force as well as the maintenance of buildings that may be used in the scenario of possible alternative uses for Lajes Air Base.

"This requires an immediate investment in this type of infrastructure with economic impact on Terceira Island," stressed Vasco Cordeiro.

With regard to environmental issues, the joint declaration embodies two essential aspects: one concerns situations that already occur at this time and that require a more active intervention on the part of the USA in term of decontamination actions; the other regards future situations that might result from this restructuring process of the U.S. presence at Lajes Air Base and on the island of Terceira.

"If we bear in mind what has been the starting point of this process in November 2012 and the hard work that has been done over nearly three years, I am cautiously optimistic and recognise the merits of these results. However, I am aware that there is still much work ahead of us," said Vasco Cordeiro.