The Regional Director of Labour, Vocational Training and Consumer Defence reiterated today in Furnas that in view of the difficult context, it is necessary to consider new strategies for the management of public affairs.

Rui Bettencourt spoke at the opening session of the seminar "Challenges and strategies for new times" taking place in Furnas, São Miguel. This two-day event brings together national and international scholars as well as experts on employment and development issues, who will discuss the centrality of the Azores and their geostrategic position in the world.

For Rui Bettencourt, and according to the Estates-General of Management in Latin Speaking Countries that will meet at this seminar, "this is the moment to bring closer those who think and those who take action, which requires an interconnection between thought and action."

The Regional Director for Labour, Vocational Training and Consumer Defence has also emphasised that in order to address issues such as information management, knowledge of land, maritime and air territories - as well as the management of endogenous and human resources and the regional business sector - a joint reflection among scholars, policy makers, managers and technicians is necessary in order to boost progress and the development of societies.

The Autonomous Region of the Azores "may become an example to other territories for the way it has managed to use technological innovation and knowledge, for the way it has organised the management of information as well as for the conduction of prospective studies concerning the labour work on a regular basis," stressed the government official.

The Region has "the size of a living laboratory and takes advantage of its geostrategic position to enhance its centrality globally in the context of the issues under discussion," said Rui Bettencourt.

This seminar was organised with the purpose of promoting a "comprehensive reflection on ideas and thoughts among invested experts" in order to address strategies for new times to come.