A cooperation agreement between the Azores and Massachusetts will be signed next Saturday, 23rd, by the president of the Regional Government, Carlos César, and by the governor of that North American state, Deval Patrick.

The ceremony will have place in Fall River - where Carlos César will be a guest of honour of the already traditional Great Festivities of the Holy Spirit of New England - and will mark the beginning of a new phase of the relationship of the Region with the most "Azorean" destination of the Portuguese emigration.

Considering the history of this relation and the vast set of common interests in sectors such as the fisheries, the agriculture, the tourism, the environment, the education and the scientific investigation, among others - as well as the advantages in stimulating aspects like, for example, the geographical location -, the Azores and Massachusetts agree in developing the commercial exchanges, the cooperation between institutions connected with health, education and culture, as well as the mutual investment or creation of “joint ventures” in emergent sectors like the high technology, the environmental technology, the renewable energies, the conservation of energy, the recycling, the reduction of the emission of pollutant gases, the climatic monitoring and the tourist promotion.

Both parts are also committed to look for new areas of cooperation, for which they foresee meetings between the respective representatives, visits of business delegations and symposiums and seminars in both sides of the Atlantic.

Finally, it is also established that it will fall to a group of representatives of both Governments the responsibility of identifying specific projects or programs that can contribute to improve the cooperation agreement.