1a.Objectives (from AD-416)
To strengthen the economic and social development of the Azores through the identification of areas within which cooperative research activities and programs that can promote this development in support of the 1995 U.S.-Portugal Agreement on Cooperation and Defense as further defined in the Final Minute to that agreement.

1b.Approach (from AD-416)
Cooperators will address how Trans-Atlantic cooperation can help strengthen economic interests in the Azores, especially in the area of fisheries, in the context of a Trans-Atlantic Forum. This forum would establish a dialogue among leading researchers, policy-makers and analysts for the USA and Europe/EU to reflect and debate, in a direct and informal manner, the main issues in the Trans-Atlantic research agenda.

3.Progress Report
This report serves to document activities conducted under a specific cooperative agreement between ARS and the University of the Azores, Department of Oceans and Fisheries under the Azores Cooperative Initiatives Program (ACIP), as mandated in the 1995 U.S.-Portugal Agreement on Cooperation and Defense and further defined in the Final Minute (95 ACD-FM) to that agreement and funded by Department of Defense. The Regional Government of the Azores (RGA) and USDA have established the parameters of the first of what is anticipated to be an annual forum. The first forum is anticipated to be held by the end of calendar year 2008. This agreement was terminated and transferred to a new agreement (To further strengthen trans-Atlantic cooperation, in addition to hosting a regular Forum, the RGA and cooperators will support exchange visits between the USA and Azores. These visits will be identified by the RGA, based on discussion and agreement with USDA and DOD and will support exchange visits with an objective of developing new appropriate cooperative projects in support of the ACIP objectives, in the areas of agriculture, education, environment, tourism and cultural exchange, civil protection, and social security and health.