The Regional Director for the Communities travels to Brazil to participate in the "International Congress on the 400 years of Azorean presence in Maranhão: history, culture and identity" that will take place from October 23 to 25.
 
Paulo Teves will attend the opening session of the congress, which will be held in São Luis do Maranhão. He will also be the speaker of the opening conference on the theme "Houses of the Azores as gateways to international relations" on October 23.
 
The creation of the House of the Azores of Maranhão will be formalised on the first day of the works.
 
On October 25, the last day of the meeting, the Regional Director will take part in one of the congress's round tables, delivering a lecture on the Council of the Azorean Diaspora.
 
This event will feature 23 speakers from Brazil, the Azores, Mainland Portugal and Belgium to mark the 400 years of Azorean presence in this northeastern Brazilian state.
 
The programme includes several conferences addressing themes such as identity, history, heritage, literature and the Houses of the Azores, thus promoting closer relations between Maranhão and the Azores as well as the preservation of the Azorean presence and its manifestations.
 
In April 1619, Maranhão became the home of two hundred Azorean couples. Throughout the 17th century, about six thousand Azoreans settled in northern Brazil, namely in the cities of Sao Luis, Alcântara and Icatu, where the type of houses, the June festivities, the carnival and the celebration of the Divine Holy Spirit are cultural heritages dating back from this period.