The President of the Government attended the release of the book “Uma agenda de transformação para Cabo Verde” (An agenda of transformation for Cape Verde) by the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, José Maria Neves, at the Lisbon City Hall on Monday afternoon.

Being the first literary work by the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, the book, which was presented by Mário Soares and N’gunu Tiny, congregates some of the main speeches delivered by José Maria Neves on relevant issues for Cape Verde, particularly those concerning the development and self-assertion of the country in the international context.

And it is precisely in this aspiration that the Azores have played an important role. This intermediation and the Azorean influence - already recognised at a national and European level, especially in the context of Macaronesia - not only allowed a very close relation between the two archipelagos, but also a friendly and personal relation between Carlos César and José Maria Neves.

The cooperation mechanisms have been identified in several bilateral contacts, especially during the visit of a delegation led by José Maria Neves to the Azores in 2007 and another visit made by Carlos César on the following year Cesar to Cape Verde where politicians and businesspeople established bridges of cooperation in several areas.

On that occasion, the President of the Government stressed that having the possibility of presenting to Cape Verdean authorities and economic agents the diversity of areas where trade relations with the Azores might be reinforced was the highlight of his visit.
 
During this process, the heads of the Azorean and Cape Verdean Government have pledged in a document signed in Ponta Delgada, on the occasion of José Maria Neves’s visit to the Azores, to establish an “agenda of cooperation and development” which is extended to the Macaronesia region and based on an “an intense process of dialogue on common challenges to the four islands in their relations with the world.”

In this context, the Azorean Government’s commitment in the process contributed to achieving a common aspiration of the Macaronesia archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and Cape Verde), with the establishment of a special partnership between the European Union and Cape Verde.

According to Carlos César, the European Union’s decision “follows what has been the official position of the Azores Regional Government which has been advocating among the international and Community organisations over recent years – the strengthening of the EU’s relations with Cape Verde.” 

After the release of the book “Uma agenda de transformação para Cabo Verde,” Carlos César and José Maria Neves attended a dinner hosted by the Mayor of Lisbon, António Costa.