The Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations starts Wednesday, September 28, a visit to Canada and the United States of America, where he will establish contacts with Azorean communities and their institutions. He will also participate in the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the House of the Azores of New England.
 
On the first day of this visit, Rodrigo Oliveira will meet with Mike Pagtakham, Deputy Mayor of Winnipeg, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, and with the Administration Board of the House of the Azores of Winnipeg, an institution that promotes and preserves Azorean traditions and culture in that Canadian province since 1992.
 
On the following day, the Regional Under Secretary will visit "Abrigo Centre" in Toronto, a non-profit organisation that provides social support to families of Azorean origin through various services. In addition, the government official has also a scheduled meeting with the Board of the House of Ontario, which has recently taken over the presidency of the World Council of the Houses of the Azores at the end of the General Assembly that took place on the islands of Flores and Corvo.
 
On this day, Rodrigo Oliveira will also deliver a lecture about the Azores, titled "The Azores: modernity, the Diaspora and youth engagement,” as guest speaker of the Canadian Centre for Azorean Research and Studies at the University of Toronto.
 
The Canadian Centre for Azorean Research and Studies belongs to the Department of Spanish and Portuguese of the University of Toronto and was created with the purpose of studying the Azorean presence in Canada. It is also dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of Azorean culture.
 
On Friday, September 30, the Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations visits the International Charter School in the State of Rhode Island, USA, where he has a scheduled meeting with students of Portuguese. At the end of the day, he will attend the conference titled as "House of New England: past, present and future" and the presentation of the itineraries on Folk Dance Groups and Philharmonic Bands from the Azores and the Communities.
 
On Saturday, the last day of this visit, Rodrigo Oliveira will attend the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the House of the Azores of New England at the Fall River Cultural Centre in Massachusetts.
 
This organisation was officially founded in 1982 under the designation of House of the Azores of Rhode Island. After a hiatus of nine years, it reopened as the House of the Azores of New England.