Herménio Celso Fernandes, president of the National Association of Cape Verdean Municipalities (ANMCV), was this Wednesday, February 1st, in Lagos, at the invitation of the president of the board of the Portuguese Association of Municipalities with Historic Center (APMCH) Hugo Pereira.
The reason for the official visit was the signing of a collaboration protocol between the two associative structures, the moment being witnessed by the president of the municipality of Machico Ricardo Franco, member of the Fiscal Council of APMCH, and by the councilor of the municipality of Lagoa Mário Guerreiro, also member of the APMCH, as well as by the general secretaries Fernando Borges and Frederico Paula, of the ANMCV and APMCH.
The partnership now formalized aims to create synergies through joint or coordinated actions to promote cooperation programs and projects that contribute to the better performance of the respective missions, namely in terms of safeguarding, promoting and enhancing historic centers and local government.
According to the local authority of Lacrobrigen, the collaboration between the APMCH and the ANMCV could take place in terms of the exchange of experiences and technical-scientific information, the exchange of periodical scientific publications and the sharing of bibliographic resources, the joint organization of events, the dissemination of the initiatives of both institutions through their networks of contacts and partners, or even direct collaboration in scientific technical cooperation projects and programs of common interest.
During the event, Herménio Fernandes referred to the signing of the protocol as "a very important event for the municipalities of Cape Verde, given the opportunity that the historic centers represent for boosting tourism and for the attractiveness of the territories themselves, adding to them competitiveness and positive impacts for communities».
Recalling the structural projects for the resilient development of tourism and Cape Verde's blue economy, which are being developed in the archipelago by the Tourism Fund with funding from the World Bank, the president of ANMCV added that it is not enough to recover and reclassify the heritage, it is necessary add knowledge to ensure qualified management of historic centers and harmonize the level of services offered to tourists/visitors with what is practiced in other geographies, as this is the only way to effectively generate value, placing, therefore, great expectations on the most -value of the partnership now signed.
Alluding to historical centers as a mark of identity, Hugo Pereira did not fail to remember that this activity, namely as mass tourism, also contains dangers that are likely to potentiate the destruction of these historical and heritage values, demanding, as such, a capable and competent management. balance, to which the work that the APMCH has been doing in terms of disseminating knowledge and sharing good practices contributes.
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