The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations stressed in Ponta Delgada the "very close" cooperation to be developed in Brussels between the Government and the Azores Agricultural Federation.
 
Rui Bettencourt spoke to journalists at the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Azores Agricultural Federation, which now has a representative at the Representation Office of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Brussels. According to him, there is hope that "there could be an even stronger defence of a very important activity for the Azores, which is agriculture and animal husbandry."
 
"It is clear that this situation has very important consequences," the government official said, mentioning that the Multiannual Financial Framework for the 2021/2027 period is being stabilised and negotiated. In this regard, "a reinforcement in awareness raising and the exercise of the Office's powers in an extremely important area is fundamental for us."
 
The Secretary for External Relations also recalled the "four lines of action" on which the creation of the Representation Office of the Azores in Brussels is based: strategic surveillance, information, logistical support and representation of the Azores, their Government, their society and their social partners.
 
"It is this attitude and this course of action that guides what is being done," Rui Bettencourt said, considering that the Brussels Office "can be optimised." It should "not just be the Office of the Azorean Government, but the representation office of the Azores, their social partners, their forces, their companies and their civil society," as already reiterated.
 
For the Regional Secretary, the signing of this protocol "symbolises the beginning of a collaboration that will have strong moments and difficult moments," but it "will certainly have a return to the Azores and to agriculture, in particular, that will be very positive."
 
Rui Bettencourt highlighted the joint work with the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Forestry in order to turn this approach that now begins into reality. On the occasion, he also congratulated the Azores Agricultural Federation "for the availability and support it has given to this strategy," so that, together in Brussels, we may address these matters to render them "more efficient in a fundamental area to the Azores."
 
The agreement was signed today by the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry, João Ponte, and the Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations and the Azores Agricultural Federation. It aims to strengthen the representation of the Azorean agricultural sector with EU bodies, through the logistics and support of the Representation Office of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Brussels, improving the rapprochement between the Azorean civil society and different EU bodies towards the defence of the Azores.
 
The two Regional Government members are required to support the Agricultural Federation in fulfilling its mission in Brussels, to support logistics, to provide access to and use of the Representation Office space, and to implement a coordinated strategy in the approach to EU authorities.