Conference of Presidents

The Conference of Presidents of Outermost regions is the main political and technical cooperation body between the Presidents of Azores, Canary Islands, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Madeira, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion and Saint-Martin.

Cooperation objectives

The conference defines the orientations of their cooperation, whose main objectives are to:

• Coordinate their joint actions and adopt common positions to defend the interests of  outermost regions in the European Union;
• Strengthen European action regarding outermost regions, based on the Treaty’s provisions;
• Defend the common interests of outermost regions in all the European and international organizations with regional purpose in which they are represented;
• Reinforce cooperation between ORs in cooperation projects.

Organization and functioning

The presidency of the Conference is a rotating one, with a mandate of at least one year. It meets in ordinary session, at least once a year, in the region holding the presidency and adopts its conclusions in the form of a final declaration in which the common political positions of the outermost regions are reflected.

The Conference:

• Defines and promotes the key strategic political orientations of this cooperation;
• Represents the common interests of outermost regions within European institutions, bodies and organizations;
• Chooses among its members, a rotating presidency of the Conference, for a period of at least one year;
• Adopts all decisions necessary to achieve cooperation objectives.