Porto Metropolitan Area establishes permanent office in Brussels

Heard the good news? Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP) has opened its first-ever permanent representation office in Brussels! AMP and Magellan Circle organised an event celebrating its official launch at the Portuguese Permanent Representation to the European Union, with POLIS in attendance.

On Wednesday, 25 January 2023, Porto Metropolitan Area held an event for the official launch of the Permanent Representation of Porto Metropolitan Area in Brussels, with more than 100 participants.

The event was a huge success, featuring the participation and engagement of numerous Portuguese and European representatives to mark the occasion.

Indeed, the event opened with keynotes by Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, President of AMP and Mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia and Elisa Ferreira, EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms.

From left to right:  Teresa Presas, Isabela Carvalhais, Clara San Damián Hernández, Karen Vancluysen, and Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues. Photo credit: AMP

A roundtable for discussion was then held, moderated by Teresa Presas, Senior Consultant at Magellan Circle, and featuring panellists:

• Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, President of AMP;
• Clara San Damián Hernández, Director, Permanent Delegation of Castilla and León to the European Union;
• Isabel Carvalhais, Member of the European Parliament;
• Karen Vancluysen, Secretary General, representing POLIS.

Topics such as the importance of fostering sustainability to reach imminent climate goals were high on the agenda. Naturally, with POLIS present, the relevance of sustainable urban mobility was also highlighted.

POLIS Secretary General Karen Vancluysen attended the event representing POLIS. Photo credit: AMP

Karen Vancluysen emphasized the role of cities and regions as key enablers for sustainability, and how it is essential for them to be next to where a lot of the action and relevant decision-making takes place.

Moreover, it is through networks like POLIS that European cities and regions, either small, medium or large, can receive the needed support and work together to develop innovative policies for sustainable urban mobility, facilitating dialogue and exchange between local and regional authorities, and other stakeholders in the mobility sector, such as industry, research centres and universities, and NGOs.

Photo of all attendees. Photo credit: AMP

The event then ended with a closing speech by Vasco Cordeiro, President of the European Committee of the Regions.

Click here to read the press release of the event.