The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for Foreign Affairs met today in Ponta Delgada with the board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Azores. The meeting was intended to coordinate the Region's external action with the goals of entrepreneurs as well as their participation in the Azorean Council for Internationalisation to be created in 2017.
 
Rui Bettencourt spoke after the meeting, which was also attended by the Regional Director for European Affairs. He considered that this was a "very useful" conversation and we have already begun to prepare the participation of the Azores in the Forum of Outermost Regions. The latter will be held in Brussels in March and will be attended by various social partners and Azorean entrepreneurs.
 
"The main goal is to tell Azorean companies that it would be interesting to hold hands for internationalisation," the Regional Secretary said, emphasising that strategies in external relations should be discussed, coordinated and combined because "we are stronger together."
 
For Rui Bettencourt, the complementarity with entrepreneurs "should be also strengthened" in our public performance abroad. The government official added that "joint actions will be carried out not only with the Azorean Council for Internationalisation, but also in Brussels, with the Azores Representation."
 
This initiative will involve Azorean entrepreneurs in order to define areas of strategic action and improve political communication channels to project the Azores internationally.