The Regional Government has decided to extend the application deadline for the incentive scheme for private investment - SIDER and "Empreende Jovem" (Youth Entrepreneurship) by six months.

According to the Vice-President of the Government, this decision "avoids a time lag between the closing of the current application period for the incentive schemes and the next period, which is due to start on July 1, 2014."

The applications for the Incentive Scheme for the Regional Development of the Azores (SIDER) - including the subsystems for Local Development, Tourism Development and Strategic Development - and "Empreende Jovem" programme will be open until June 30, 2014. Under this decision, the programmes will continue to proceed with the approval of all applications submitted during this period.

With this measure, Azorean companies will have at their disposal, without interruptions, a financial incentive scheme for private investments, which will assure that the implementation of investments will not be delayed for lack of approval. Additionally, this decision will also boost private investment in the next two years, taking into consideration that all projects approved by the current incentive scheme will have to be concluded by December 31, 2015.

"The financial support to the entry into force of the new incentive schemes under the next Community programming period 2014-2020 will be significantly reinforced to the extent that the Regional Government has already allocated 330 million Euros to meet this goal in the 2014-2020 period," stressed Sérgio Ávila.

For the Vice-President of the Government, this "is a source of pride for the Regional Government" as it allows "to strengthen the support to Azorean companies and businesspeople by support the maintenance and creation of new jobs."

Under SIDER, a total of 833 applications have been approved to date, which corresponds to a global investment of 565 million Euros and the creation of 2,700 jobs.

With regard to "Empreende Jovem," 252 projects have already been approved, representing an estimated investment of 46 million Euros and the creation of 560 new jobs.

The emergence of a significant number of new private investments and the investment intentions already communicated to the Government of the Azores were decisive factors in ensuring that the Government would undertake this effort without breaks and interruptions between Community Support Frameworks.