The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology reiterated in Lisbon the importance of the "quick implementation" of the Sea 2020 Programme, ensuring that "speeding up the payment of POSEI Fisheries is number one priority" for the Government of the Azores.
 
Fausto Brito e Abreu mentioned the resolution adopted in the Council of Ministers held on March 3, implementing the 'Sea 2020 strategy. In addition to allowing the publication of the regulations on the support measures provided in this programme, it also determines the opening of a tender for the local development of community-based projects the Region intends to implement.
 
"The Government of the Azores is satisfied with the fact that a meeting of the Council of Ministers was exclusively dedicated to the sea," said Brito e Abreu. The government official spoke at the end of a meeting with the Director-General of Maritime Policy, João Fonseca Ribeiro, where were analysed the political lines presented following the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
 
The Regional Secretary stressed that the sea "is an asset with which the Azores grant Portugal with its true maritime dimension due to their geographical position."
 
For Brito e Abreu, "at a time when the development of the maritime economy is on the agenda in Portugal and in Europe, it is important to remember that the Azores are the most maritime region of the country." The government official stressed that the region is "at forefront" with regard to the production of scientific knowledge on the sea, one of the challenges set out in the Council of Ministers to increase "blue economy" in Portugal.
 
Brito e Abreu stressed that "an increased investment in the knowledge on the sea will require additional support to universities and research centres, hence acknowledging the value of skilled human resources in the scientific field." In this regard, he recalled the Ocean Observation Centre to be implemented in the Azores.
 
The Regional Secretary expressed his satisfaction with the importance attached to the Sea in the Programme of the XXI Constitutional Government, through the increased autonomy of maritime affairs in his own ministry. He also expects that "the measures and actions adopted in the context of this multi-sectoral and horizontal strategy be extended the Azores, taking into consideration the territorial specificities of the archipelago and the institutional respect for the constitutional and statutory powers of the Autonomous Region."
 
"The National Government may rely on the Regional Government to find solutions that address the three main challenges the promotion of the sea faces in Portugal: the challenge of sovereignty, the challenge of knowledge and the challenge of maritime economy" said the government official.
 
Brito e Abreu also praised the creation of the Blue Fund, a financial incentive mechanism, which he considered to be a "key player" to boost the maritime economy in the country.