Full speech by the President of the Government, Vasco Cordeiro, delivered today in Ponta Delgada at the press conference for the presentation of the results of the Extraordinary Council of the Government for Employment and Business Competitiveness:

"Following the commitment I took in the speech delivered at the closing of the debates on the Programme of the XI Government of the Azores on November 22, I have called the Council of the Government which met yesterday, December 17.

This extraordinary meeting addressed issues related to Business Competitiveness and Employment. In this context, the Council analysed, debated and approved several important measures that will be now made public.

What we present today is not a mere sum of measures to combat unemployment.

It is rather a series of coherent interventions which, under the designation of Azorean Agenda for Employment Creation and Business Competitiveness, evidence the Regional Government's potential for direct and indirect intervention in order to provide an effective response to the major challenge we face: job creation.

Firstly, I would like to emphasise that this agenda is the foundation from which we can boost the effects of sectoral policies, such as the Tourism Policy or the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies.

With this agenda, the development of sectoral policy areas as well as the fundamental role private agents will be endowed with a support framework intended to boost their competitiveness, wealth generation in the Region and their potential for creating and maintaining jobs.

This is the case of several measures, including the lines of credit provided, the simplification of procedures, the enhancement of specialised support to companies or the creation of programmes to boost the employability of the Azorean population.
 
Hence, we have two clearly defined goals: the urgent need to implement measures intended to mitigate the current economic and social situation in the Azores and the adoption of a structural programme that allows the creation of a favourable environment for companies.

With the development of the Azorean Agenda for Employment Creation and Business Competitiveness, the Government aims to strengthen and diversify the Azores' economy in the medium-term through stable companies with the capacity of creating sustainable jobs.

 This an essential condition for one who knows that jobs are not created with orders, but with a joint effort of public entities, workers and entrepreneurs.
The adoption of this set of measures, 42 days after the inauguration of the new Regional Government, evidences that we are truly committed to addressing the major challenge the Azores face - job creation.

Therefore, we have not wasted time and we now move forward with a document consisting of sixty measures divided into seven axes of intervention.
It should be noted that over 70 percent of the aforementioned measures are unprecedented in the Region.

The first of these axes concerns the Incentive Policy, under which the current incentive schemes will undergo profound changes. The Azorean Government expects that the new incentive system be available to entrepreneurs in early 2014 and, therefore, the respective framework should be approved by the Council of the Government in the last quarter of 2013.

The second axis is related to Export Promotion and Promotion of the Region, through the development of support mechanisms addressed at entrepreneurs in conjunction with other funding tools that boost export operations of Azorean products under more competitive conditions.

Under the third axis - Innovation and Entrepreneurship Promotion -, it becomes crucial to establish specific measures that not only encourage entrepreneurship, but also its openness to innovative projects.

With regard to the fourth axis - Venture Capital -, the Government aims to promote the creation of a Venture Capital Society, headquartered in the Region, which will be in charge of managing business assets over 60 million Euros as a way of encouraging new investments and, simultaneously, support companies in improving their current management.

The following axis, which focuses on the Support to Financial Restructuring, includes a series of measures designed to facilitate the access of companies to funding as well as the recovery of companies with credit access difficulties, hence contributing to the maintenance of jobs, particularly in our small and medium companies.

The sixth axis - Support Measures for Employment and Vocational Training - aims to combat unemployment and promote the creation of new jobs, providing the regional business sector with a qualified staff and allowing companies to grow sustainably.

The last axis of this Agenda, focused on Urban Renewal, comprises measures for the recovery of degraded public and private building for commercial and housing purposes. It also aims to support the recovery of the construction sector through the creation of jobs.

 Without the concern of establishing priorities, I would like to highlight three measures that summarise the integrated approach undertaken by the Government on Employment and the Business Competitiveness policies through an integrated strategy that comprehends all governmental areas.

The Azores Brand will be created by the end of 2013 and will cover all regional production in order to bring added value to regional products and services as well as to increase penetration in domestic and foreign markets.
With regard to the support measures for Employment and Vocational Training, the Government will move forward with two new programmes to be implemented next year: "Agir Agricultura" (agriculture sector) and "Agir Indústria" (industrial sector).

These professional traineeship programmes have a duration of six months; they include the mandatory provision of vocational training and the awarding of a prize to distinguish the companies that decide to hire trainees.

Under the Recovery Programme of Production Potential, a strategy will be developed to enhance the profitability of 4,500 hectares of cryptomeria forests, owned by the Region, which will be cut and processed, followed by the reforestation of that area. The result of this programme is primarily targeted to the export market.

Moreover, this plan will create direct employment for nearly a thousand workers in terms of direct employment and over one hundred indirect jobs.
With the Terra Açores Project, several plots of fallow land will be provided to young entrepreneurs operating in the agricultural sector with the purpose of stimulating the diversification of the sector and contribute to a decrease in imports.

It should be noted that this is also the beginning of an extensive process of consultation and dialogue. In this context, the Government intends to submit these proposals political parties and social partners and hold a meeting of the Regional Strategic Concertation Council before the end of the year.
This process should be completed by the end of the 2nd week of January in order to move forward with its implementation.

This "Agenda for Employment Creation aims to reach a broad consensus and unite all forces in the Region so that the Azores may overcome, as effective as possible, the challenge of creating employment," concluded Vasco Cordeiro.