The 19th General Assembly of the World Council of Houses of the Azores (CMCA) will take place on the islands of Flores and Corvo between September 8 and 10. The initiative will be attended by the Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, Rodrigo Oliveira, on behalf of the President of the Government.
 
For three days, the 13 Houses of the Azores that make up the World Council, from Canada, United States, Brazil, Uruguay and Mainland Portugal, and the House of the Azores of Bermuda, which participates as observer, will meet in several working sessions to assess their activities and analyse the main challenges that Azorean communities face in the Diaspora.
 
The opening session will take place Thursday, September 8, at the Santa Cruz das Flores Museum and Municipal Auditorium, featuring speeches by Rodrigo Oliveira and Rogério Medeiros, vice-president of the House of the Azores of São Paulo, which will chair the CMCA council. It will be followed, in the afternoon, by a working session dedicated to presentation of the activities developed by each House of the Azores.
 
On the following day, the Lajes Museum will host a conference on the reality and challenges of Flores Island with the mayors of Lajes Town Hall, Luís Maciel, and Santa Cruz, José Carlos Mendes. There will be a conference on the 40 years of Autonomy in the Azores to be delivered by Francisco Coelho, member of the Regional Parliament and former president of the Legislative Assembly.
 
During the afternoon, the General Assembly continues its activities on Corvo Island with a conference on the reality and challenges of this island to be delivered the mayor of Corvo Town Hall, José Silva. The event will be followed by the closing session that will include the presentation of the conclusions of the 19th General Assembly of CMCA at the Main Hall of the Town Hall.
 
On Saturday, the delivery ceremony of merit medals will be held in Fajãzinha, municipality of Lajes das Flores, where the Houses of the Azores will honour various personalities and institutions as well as to distinguish the "Azorean Quality Product" 2016.
 
The works of the 19th General Assembly of the World Council of Houses of the Azores will be attended by the representatives of political parties represented at the Legislative Assembly of the Azores.
 
Founded in 1997, the World Council of Houses of the Azores comprises the Houses of the Azores of Northern Portugal, Lisbon and Algarve (Mainland Portugal), Winnipeg, Quebec and Ontario (Canada), Hilmar and New England (USA), Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and Uruguay. The Regional Directorate for Communities is also part of CMCA.
 
It aims to promote and develop activities that contribute to the affirmation of the Azores and their communities in the Diaspora as well as to the promotion of social, cultural and economic relations between the archipelago and the territories where each House of the Azores is established.