The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, Rui Bettencourt, will represent the President of the Government at the 24th Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions (CPOR) of the European Union, which takes place on the island of Saint Martin Thursday and Friday.

The 24th CPOR will mainly focus on the Multiannual Financial Framework for the 2021/2027 period at a time when negotiations on this document are under way.

The Conference begins Thursday, February 6, with the official opening by Daniel Gibbs, President of the Overseas Collectivity of Saint Martin, who currently chairs the Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions. During the works, Rui Bettencourt will deliver two communications on the internal challenges that Outermost Regions face and on the role of these regions in Europe as a whole.

The first day of the Conference will include an internal session featuring a debate between the Presidents of the Outermost Regions and their representatives on matters of relevance within the scope of their participation in the European Union. In addition, current themes and the cooperation between Outermost Regions will be under analysis at this session.

On Friday, February 7, in addition to the speeches by the presidents of the nine Outermost Regions, the representatives of the European Commission and Parliament and of the three Member States of the Outermost Regions - France, Spain and Portugal - will also speak at the partnership session, which will also be attended by Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias.

Also, on this day, the Secretary for External Relations will meet with Marc Lemaître, Director-General of the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission, to whom he will have the opportunity to convey the Azorean position on the Multiannual Financial Framework.

The Regional Government has insisted on a strategy defending that, in addition to permanent weaknesses recognised by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Outermost Regions bring to the European Union countless advantages, such as an oceanic dimension and a geostrategic position that confers upon Europe an important worldwide projection.

The 24th Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions will also be marked by the signing of the Final Declaration, which will summarise the main political positions of the Presidents of the Outermost Regions.

At the end of the conference, the Overseas Collectivity of Saint Martin will pass the presidency of CPOR to Mayotte, a French overseas department that became an Outermost Region in 2014 and that will chair the CPOR for the first time.

During this visit to Saint Martin, the Regional Secretary will be accompanied by the Regional Director for European Affairs, Célia Azevedo, who besides the Conference works, will also participate in the Monitoring Committee of the Outermost Regions, a technical support body of CPOR.

The Conference of the Outermost Regions includes the Presidents of the Governments of the nine Outermost Regions of the European Union: Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Réunion, Mayotte and Saint-Martin. They are recognised with a specific status defined in article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union due to their structural characteristics, namely their great remoteness, insularity, small size and difficult topography or climate.