"The challenges of today and the future of our youngsters cannot be separated from the defence of good governance, decentralisation and the regional power in Europe" said the Under Secretary for European Affairs and External Cooperation in Ponta Delgada today.

Rodrigo Oliveira spoke during the works of the Assembly of European Regions and announced that "next August, the island of São Miguel will host the AER Youth Summer School, an initiative that will bring Atlantic Europe over a hundred youngsters to enhance their knowledge on these and other dimensions, under the main theme: "Global Challenges, Regional Opportunities."

This five-day event "will allow our youngsters to discuss actual issues, exchange ideas and share strategies and visions regarding the future of Europe" in a programme that is being developed in order to "enhance the added value of its organisation in an Autonomous and Outermost Region," stated the Regional Under Secretary for European Affairs and External Cooperation. The government official added that "we will highlight the environmental added value of the Azores and the concern with sustainable development; the use of local resources (with special emphasis geothermal energy); the potentiality of technological innovation and scientific research at sea and on land; the value of human capital, culture and creative industries and, finally, the contribution of EU borders to the global assertion of Europe."

Rodrigo Oliveira explained that "we will be able to promote reflection, through discussion sessions, presentations and field trips, which will be complemented by a social programme designed to strengthen the ties of friendship and the creation of contact networks between the Regions that will be certainly projected in the future."

Being "another partnership between the Government with the Assembly of European Regions," the 2012 Summer University "is part of the strategy and strong dynamics of the Azores' participation in the AER, which is focused on youth issues, mobility and employability," concluded Rodrigo Oliveira.