Vítor Neto, president of Núcleo Empresarial do Algarve (NERA), assured this Friday, in Loulé, that «businessmen in the Algarve will fight for the future community framework to be different».
The president of the Algarve businessmen alluded to the fact that the Algarve is one of the only two regions in the country (with Lisbon and Vale do Tejo) that is out of Objective 1 and that, therefore, being considered statistically richer, is out of most of the structural funds.
“The Algarve cannot be underestimated in relation to the funds as it was in the current community framework”, he stressed.
Vítor Neto, who spoke at the opening of the session in Loulé of the cycle «Portugal a Crescer», promoted by the Ministry of Economy and aimed at making known the measures to support companies and job creation currently available, highlighted that, in the room, there were “entrepreneurs from different sectors, which reflects the complex economic reality of the region. Here there are businessmen from tourism, leisure, real estate and construction, export agroindustry, distribution, catering, hotels. This is the concrete reality of our region».
The chairman of the Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDRA), responding to the question raised by the leader of the association of Algarve businessmen, added that, according to the calculations already made, the Algarve will hardly cease to be considered a "phasing out" region, so with less access to structural funds.
David Santos added, however, that in recent times a new designation has emerged, that of «transition regions» and that it is hoped that the Algarve may be included in this category. In Portugal, thanks to the “phasing out”, in practice there are “two regions at a disadvantage in relation to all other regions of the country” and one of them is the Algarve, he said.
Among the disadvantages of being considered a region outside Objective1 - and which translates into much less money for the Algarve -, the president of the CCDRA referred to the lack of co-participation of the Algarve's presence in business missions, precisely because it is a region in “ phasing out”.
Support for participation in business missions abroad had been presented a short time before, in one of the panels, by Luis Florindo, from AICEP, but it has not actually applied to the Algarve, as highlighted by two of the businessmen present.
Luis Florindo, questioned by these businessmen, replied that, in certain circumstances, the co-payment was possible, which is why, in the end, the president of the CCDRA commented that, "if it is possible, then we will find the means for this".
On the next community framework, David Santos pointed out that, in addition to predicting the end of the lost fund, "there will probably also be no support for communication channels" and expressed his hope that this change would not apply "to accessibility by sea". underlining that there is still a lot to do in this regard, namely in the Port of Portimão.
One of the issues addressed and which aroused interest among the more than 100 businessmen present at the session was the measure announced by Carlos Abade, from Turismo de Portugal, to support the requalification of existing tourist and hotel facilities.
Carlos Abade also pointed out that the Jessica Initiative, which allocates 10 million euros to the Algarve to intervene in urban rehabilitation, «can and should be used by companies, particularly those in the tourism sector». He stressed that the Jessica Initiative makes it possible to “intervene in areas of great tourist attraction”, such as the historic centers of Algarve towns and cities.
In closing, the president of the CCDRA said that this body "can only be on the side of business associations, as, as is already known, the future community framework 2013/2020 has more to do with private initiative, with companies, with creation of job". David Santos finally announced that CCDRA, together with business associations, will promote a series of sessions to publicize and debate the available support and future paths for the Algarve.
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