The regional director for Youth guaranteed, today, the support of the Government to all the initiatives that can reinforce the Azorean identity and narrow the ties of union and a bigger contact between the Azores and the communities of the Diaspora.

In the closure, in Ponta Delgada, of the “Meeting of Youngsters 2008 - Azores / Communities: a bridge for the future”, Bruno Pacheco reaffirmed the political will of the Executive to maintain the Azores as the “stage of several worlds”.

As he added, as part of the new generation of policies for youth, the next “Labjovem” contest of young creators will be extended to the Azorean resident communities in North and South America.

However, the regional director for Youth defended that the current intercommunity relationship must not only be done from the Azores for the communities, but, also, in reverse way.

Bruno Pacheco guaranteed the interest of the Regional Government in supporting the activity of the work group, constituted by youngsters of the Azores, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America and Mainland created by the meeting, begun on Sunday.

In his opinion, the participants of this pretence of understanding between the several youthful associations are multiplying agents of a new attitude that the Regional Government intends to see developed, valuing the Azores and the communities and lifting up everyone’s self-esteem.

The “Declaration of Ponta Delgada” stemmed from the meeting, which proclaims a bigger relationship between the Azores and the Communities and the creation of an on-line portal.

According to the document, the on-line portal aims at putting multimedia resources, contacts, links and activities available between all the associations in the communities, narrowing the ties of the communities with the Azores.

It equally defends the deepening of the relations between the Azores and the Communities, the diffusion and promotion of the contemporaneousness of the Communities and of the Azores, even though respecting tradition.

In the meeting, which will happen again next year, there participated nearly two tens of youngsters originating from Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, in Canada, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and California, in the United States of America, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, in Brazil, as well as from the Mainland and the Azores.

The Region was represented by the Associação Juvenil de Santa Maria, Associação Cultural Burra de Milho, Associação de Desenvolvimento Local Norte Crescente, Associação de Jovens Nova Criação, Associação Juvenil da Candelária and by the Associação Juvenil de Rabo de Peixe.