The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations defended in Ponta Delgada the need to have a "strategic vision" for the post-2020 cohesion policy, which must be "shared" with Azorean civil society and "coordinated" nationwide.
 
Rui Bettencourt spoke at the conference "The Azores and the cohesion policy: from regional to national." He stressed that this vision has to be built together and that it must take into account “the constraints of the Region and what people want to accomplish" in order to design the cohesion policy for the post 2020.
 
"It is important to have the legitimacy to introduce ourselves to those who will decide the post-2020 cohesion policy with the broad base of Azorean civil society," said the government official. He stressed that the players in this process are those who decide, those who are close to the people and those who "know what the Azores need."
 
Moreover, Rui Bettencourt considered that the Azores should present themselves with "strong persuasion" before the Member State that participates in the definition of cohesion policy, which is Portugal, emphasising that this internal coordination is "very good" for the Region.
 
The Regional Secretary for External Relations, the next months and 2018 are "fundamental" because the future is still "open." According to him, this makes this process "much more interesting" as it "allows us to take action" and "this is the moment to act."
 
Rui Bettencourt also thanked the presence of the vice-president of the Board of Directors of the agency for development and cohesion I.P. at the conference held today, "which is very important for the Region as it is able to enhance this coordination," said the government official.
 
This is the second conference promoted in the context of the Azorean society's involvement in the preparation of post-2020 cohesion policy, after a first conference held in July under the theme "Cohesion policy and its impact at regional level" that involved social partners, vocational training schools and political parties, among others.