The President of the Government will participate, from Wednesday to Friday, in the General Assembly of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR), which will debate, among other issues, the priorities set by this interregional cooperation body for Social and Territorial Cohesion Policies, Maritime Policy, Transport Policy and Accessibility in Europe.

The main conclusions of the debates will be included in the Final Declaration. The document will be approved by the General Assembly and subsequently submitted to the new European Commission, led by Jean-Claude Juncker, as well as to the members of the European Parliament with the aim of establishing the priorities and actions to be adopted by CPMR for the most relevant areas to the Peripheral and Maritime Regions in the new cycle.

On the first day of the 42nd General Assembly of the CPMR, which will be held in the Swedish city of Umea, the session will address the future of Regional Policy. It will also include the presentation and debate of the sixth report submitted by the EU Commission on Cohesion Policy.

The Regional Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, Rodrigo Oliveira, will accompany the President of the Government. On the second day of works, he will preside over the debate panel on the Integrated Maritime Policy of the European Union, which will count on the participation of representatives of the Regions, the EU Commission and the European Parliament.

The European macro-regional strategies for maritime basins, as tools designed to promote a better integration of several EU policies, and the regional experiences on the Transport Policy, particularly with regard to maritime and inland transports, will be debated by the members of CPMR, who will also analyse budget and administrative issues.

In the context of this General Assembly, there will be a scheduled meeting of the Islands Commission on September 24. This is one of the six geographical commissions of the CPMR that congregates all 24 island regional island authorities of Europe.

On the following day, the Bureau of the CPMR, the policy-making body that comprises one representative per State, will elect the new President of CPMR for the term 2014-2016.

Vasco Cordeiro represents the Portuguese Regions at the Political Bureau of CPMR, a body that is made up of 150 regions and 28 Member-States, congregating nearly 200 million European citizens.

The mission of this organisation is to defend the interests of its members within national and European institutions, through the promotion of territorial cohesion and regional power in Europe as well as through the reinforcement of the peripheral and maritime dimension of the European Union.