The Vice-President of the Government of the Azores considered exports as a "key factor to the successful economic development of the Region," taking into account that "the barriers to the movement of goods and services were completely removed in the globalised world we live in."

Speaking at the opening session of the seminar "The World is Our Market - International Cooperation and Exports," held at Praia da Vitória, Sérgio Ávila mentioned that the Azores need to improve their production capacity based on sectors that have comparative advantages.

"We have to enhance our competitive advantages by associating them to the improvement of qualification, specialisation and competitiveness, the government official said, underlining "that we will only achieve success if we can do better than others and provide goods and services with competitive potential at the best price."

For the Vice President of the Government, if the Azores do not that, others will do for them." In this context, Sérgio Ávila stressed that "an economy is measured by its capacity to attract and invest resources, preventing them from leaving the Region," which, after all, is the major challenge the Azores face.

"Increasing the number of tourists is important, but it is crucial that they consume our products," stressed Sérgio Ávila. If not so, "the money tourists will spend while staying in the Region will go back to other countries because they consumed products that were not produced in the archipelago."

The government official defended the importance of "moving from words to deeds," outlining the guidelines defined by the Regional Government for the development of this strategy.

The approval of the Azores Operational Programme on Friday, the first of all regions in the country to be implemented, allows the creation of an incentive for economic activities which, according to Sérgio Ávila, "will be more intense, diversified and generous" than any other available for businesspeople in other Portuguese regions.

In addition to the clear support to exports, the Vice-President of the Government emphasised the new incentive scheme will be based on a new paradigm that emphasises the added value brought by investment and the creation of employment. With regard to the latter, the respective costs will be eligible for reimbursement under the new scheme.

The various programmes to support and promote employment, the tax benefits system in force in the archipelago, "which is highly competitive," and the creation of the "Azores" brand were mentioned by Sérgio Ávila as tools that provide the Region with "competitive advantages that are clearly superior to those available for other companies, not only in the majority of Portuguese regions but also in other European countries."

Despite these advantages, the Vice-President of the Government noted that "these challenges are not easy." Nevertheless, the government official conveyed his belief that everyone understands that "we have to be better than the others; we must have the ability to sell the best we have in the best way and in the place where consumers want to buy."