The Vice-Presidency of the Government, through the Regional Directorate for the Communities, promotes the II Meeting Azores-Brazil, next week, on the island of Terceira. The event takes place Monday, March 14, at 6 p.m., at the Auditorium of the Capitães Generais Palace, in Angra do Heroísmo.

The meeting will be open to the public and will be chaired by the Vice-President of the Government, Artur Lima.

Following the first edition of this meeting that gathered in Ponta Delgada, last October, the directors of the Houses of the Azores headed in Brazil and the representatives of the associations that develop their work in the area of immigration in the Azores, this II Meeting Azores-Brazil will give voice to the Azorean Diaspora Councilors elected by the constituencies from this South American country.

With the purpose of recognizing the importance and valuing the cooperation between the first destination of the Azorean emigration and the largest immigrant community in the Region, the event’s program is divided into two panels, where the first is dedicated to the “Azoreans in Brazil”, with the interventions of the councilors Régis Marques Gomes (from Rio Grande do Sul), Daniel Evangelho Gonçalves (from Rio de Janeiro), Willian Agostinho Marques (from Santa Catarina) and Aristides Bogéa Bittencourt (representing the other states of Brazil).

The second panel, dedicated to the “Brazilians in the Azores”, counts with the presentations from the president of ASIBA – Association of Brazilian Immigrants in the Azores, Jairo Silva and the vice-president of AIPA – Association of Immigrants in the Azores, Leoter Viegas.

The relations between the Azores and Brazil have more than 400 years of history, since this country was the first destination of the Azorean emigration, where it is still possible to register nowadays the strong Azorean influence and its culture on the daily life of millions of Brazilians.

At the same time, and in what concerns the Brazilian community in the Azores, according to the data from the Immigration and Borders Service, in 2020 there were more than 800 Brazilian citizens residing in the Region, making it the foreign nationality most represented in the archipelago.

The session of the II Meeting Azores-Brazil is open to the general public, especially the Brazilian immigrants residing on the island of Terceira, but with seat limitation, so those interested in attending must confirm their presence until 4 p.m of March 11, by the e-mail address [email protected]