📋 Tender Overview
The Government socialized this Friday, 07, with the population and the living forces of the island of Brava, the draft law of the legal regime for the correction of asymmetries and promotion of the regional development of the islands with a small market. The ceremony was presided over by the Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, but it was up to Aquiles Santos, Advisor to the Minister of Territorial Cohesion to make this presentation.
In his speech, Ulisses Correia e Silva drew attention to the smallness of these islands, insular, with a market fragmented by islands and lower middle income, a reality in itself, a constraint "and a challenge to the effort of infrastructure, access to services, mobility and connectivity and the economic viability of investments".
"A small population associated with low income in a fragmented market poses problems of scale, of dimension," he stressed.
"That is why the strategy of positioning Cabo Verde is justified, and we have defended it since the 1990s, as a country open to the world in terms of access to the foreign market for international trade, attracting capital, investment and tourism, attracting knowledge and technology, to compensate for the weaknesses of the internal market," he said. Avail.
"When we look at each of our islands, we find different levels of development," he said. Asymmetries exist and are stronger on islands with smaller populations. These are the cases of Brava, Maio and S. Nicolau.
Brava, Maio and S. Nicolau are the three islands with the smallest population and with the least weight in the national GDP (they create less wealth), as a result of weak economic activity.
"These two factors make the challenges of mobility and connectivity through air and sea transport greater; attracting investment, setting up and developing businesses is more difficult and; Attracting and fixing frames is also more difficult. It is this situation that we want to change!", concluded the Head of Government.
The creation of fiscal and financial incentives provided for in this legal regime for the correction of asymmetries and promotion of regional development of islands with a small internal market, aims to contribute to this change, that is, to reduce asymmetries in relation to other islands.
In the opinion of Ulisses Correia e Silva, "making air and sea transport to/from islands with a small domestic market cheap and with greater frequency and regularity, is a factor inducing the development of these islands".
"We are working on building a model of subsidy to the passenger of air transport from S. Nicolau to the other islands and from the other islands to S. Nicolau; from Maio to the other islands and from the other islands to Maio; and the subsidy to the passenger of maritime transport from Brava to the other islands and from the other islands to Brava", he also announced.
According to the Prime Minister, "the subsidy aims to facilitate the mobility of residents of these islands and encourage domestic and foreign tourism to these islands." It induces an increase in demand for those islands, with an impact on the increase in the number of passengers, which in turn increases the scale to make flights and sea connections to and from those islands profitable.
"The incentives to induce economic activity through mobility and connectivity will be accompanied by a program to stimulate and encourage investment to increase tourism and real estate investment on these islands. They will also be accompanied by investments in professional qualification for employability and entrepreneurship, particularly aimed at young people", he concluded.
It should be noted that after the socialization of the proposal, there were interventions by the three Mayors of the islands with the small internal market, Miguel Rosa (from Maio), José Martins (Ribeira Brava de S. Nicolau) and Francisco Tavares (from Brava), for the Minister of State and Territorial Cohesion, Janine Lélis, to make the final considerations. In addition to the audience, which also made its contribution, with suggestions and proposals, for the future of these islands.
