The Regional Secretary for Education and Culture stated in Angra do Heroísmo that sport is the best "consortium" to unite people around a common purpose."

Speaking Thursday at the opening session of the 19th edition of the Island Games, Avelino Meneses pointed out that this feelings is even stronger because sport "calls for the participation of the youngest generations," who are "the builders of the future."

The 19th Island Games, which run until Sunday on Terceira Island, bring together over three hundred young athletes from the Azores, Cape Verde, Martinique, Corsica, Elba, Sardinia and Sicily.

In his speech, Avelino Meneses stressed that the Azorean delegation "expects" to achieve good results, pointing out that the Azores are "perhaps the best national example" in sport, having registered "an absolute sports participation rate that is twice the national average."

For the Regional Secretary, this situation "is the result of a substantial investment that reached to 1.5 million Euros in 2014" and a "continuous focus on the training of younger age groups", who make up "about three quarters" of Azorean athletes belonging to sports clubs. It is also the result of "the increase of the participation of female athletes in the last two decades."

Avelino Meneses also highlighted the importance of islands, throughout history, as "bridges that brought continents closer and promoted the dialogue among peoples," being, in some way, "in the centre of the world." In this context, the government official added that, when compared to continents, the specificities and constraints of islands require positive discrimination" so that they can "reach the same level of development."

An organisation of the Commité d'Organization Jeux des îles (COJI), of which the Azores are affiliate member, the 19th Island Games are taking place, simultaneously, at regional and municipal sports facilities Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória. This initiative involves over five hundred people, including athletes, coaches, referees and officials.

This edition of the Islands Games events features the following sports: track and field, football, judo, tennis, swimming, rugby seven, table tennis, sailing and volleyball.
The results of these competitions can be followed at the address: http://www.azores.gov.pt/GRA/DRD_JogosIlhas or https://www.facebook.com/JogosdasIlhas2015.