The Vice-President of the Government announced today in Ponta Delgada that the funds allocated to employment policies under the next Community Framework "will be reinforced by 100 million Euros."

Speaking moments before the start of the meeting of the Strategic Council of the Business Society for the Social Development of the Azores (SDEA), Sérgio Ávila added that "this reinforcement of 100 million Euros is targeted at the implementation of measures that comprise three goals."

According to the Vice-President, these goals are the following: "support the integration of youngsters into the labour market after completing their education; support the academic and professional qualification of the unemployed; support companies in the maintenance of jobs and, particularly, in the hiring of unemployed workers."

"In the context of the preparation of the next incentive schemes, we intend to support investment projects in accordance with their capacity to create effective jobs and generate added value for the local economy," stressed Sérgio Ávila.

For the Vice-President, the meeting held by the Strategic Council of SDEA today was intended to discuss the preparation of the next Community Support Framework, not only with regard to incentive schemes, but also with regard to the global resource allocation policy and the strategy for the programming period 2014-2020.

The Regional Government's decision to increase funds for employment programmes by 100 million Euros is "a clear political sign of the priority status awarded to employment policies and the channeling of efforts and private investment towards the achievement of this goal."