Paulo Estêvão emphasises "remarkable progress" of House of the Azores of Minas Gerais in opening representative office in Mainland Portugal - Communication

Secretaria Regional dos Assuntos Parlamentares e Comunidades

The Regional Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities, Paulo Estêvão, welcomed the signing of the cooperation agreement formalising the establishment of the Representative Office of the House of the Azores of Minas Gerais (CAMG) in Mainland Portugal.

The document was signed in Ponta Delgada by the President of the House of the Azores of Minas Gerais, Claudio Luciano Valença Motta, and representatives of the partner organisation (NEW-New Economy World), Alexandre Brodheim and Pedro Gouveia.

This agreement establishes a representative structure to promote and develop the activities of the Minas Gerais-based institution in Mainland Portugal. 

According to the Regional Secretary for Communities, this step reflects the vitality of the network of diaspora institutions.

Paulo Estêvão pointed out the House of the Azores as a “newly established organisation, yet one that displays a high degree of creativity and competence, as well as extraordinary dynamics."

The Regional Secretary emphasised the strategic importance of this partnership with Minas Gerais. In this regard, he noted that it is “a state with more than twice the population of Portugal,” which makes it vital “to foster increasingly close cultural and institutional ties,” as has been the case with the historic work already carried out with other Azorean cultural centres in Brazil.

The creation of this new representative office was presented by the government official as part of a broader effort to promote Azorean identity on a global scale.

The Government of the Azores currently supports a network of 20 Houses of the Azores located around the world, covering the entire Atlantic coast – from Uruguay to Canada – and consolidating its presence in the Pacific, namely in California and, more recently, in Hawaii.

"The Azoreans are not limited to the 244,000 inhabitants of these nine islands; on the contrary, we are a vast cultural region with over four million Azoreans and their descendants," stated Paulo Estêvão.

The Regional Secretary emphasised that the forging of intercontinental links, which today go far beyond traditional "nostalgic tourism," attracts a range of interests and joint projects that "complement the efforts of the Autonomous Region of the Azores."

The signing of this memorandum of understanding took place on the sidelines of the official visit of a large delegation from the House of the Azores of Minas Gerais to the archipelago, which will continue until Friday.

The extensive programme of institutional cooperation includes visits to the islands of São Miguel and Faial, where the delegation has been meeting with various members of the Regional Government and local municipal authorities.

The cultural and identity-focused programme for this visit also includes moments of great symbolic significance, namely the launch of the book “Somos Açores –Um arquipélago vivo pela ação das Casas dos Açores” by Portuguese-Brazilian journalist Igor Lopes. There will also be tastings of regional products and the theatrical performance of the play “Quando o Mar Galgou a Terra,” directed by Brazilian actress Eleonora Marino Duarte.