Visit Alto Tâmega e Barroso

Last Saturday, October 8th, CIMAT officially assumed the designation of Intermunicipal Community of Alto Tâmega and Barroso, in a public ceremony that took place near the Alto Tâmega e Barroso Tourism Office, in Chaves.

The surrounding of the Alto Tâmega e Barroso Tourism Office welcomed more than a hundred guests for the official ceremony of the denomination change of the Intermunicipal Community of Alto Tâmega, which now integrates into its name the Barroso.
Opening the event, chaired by Isabel Ferreira, Secretary of State for Regional Development, was João Noronha, Vice-President of the Intermunicipal Community of Alto Tâmega e Barroso (CIMAT), who stated that the choice of the location for the act “was not by chance,” since “this space brings together the tourism promotion of the entire region of Alto Tâmega e Barroso, a landmark of our strategy of collaboration between municipalities and the joint promotion and enhancement of the potential of endogenous resources of our territory.
The Mayor of Ribeira de Pena added that “together we do more and better” for the region, being this CIM “guided by the spirit of cohesion, unity and solidarity among its members, a circumstance that has proved to be very important in its ability to affirm and institutional intervention in the various centers of power and decision in the defense of the interests of the territory.
The responsible concluded his speech by saying that this change of name of CIMAT “represents the deepening of the process of integration and enhancement of history and the common entity of the region, based on the character of its people, the polarity of the landscape, the abundance and wealth of heritage, the ability to generate products of excellence, and an identity brand, unique and strong in the national and international context.
Fernando Queiroga, Mayor of Boticas, a municipality that, together with Montalegre, makes up the Barroso sub-region, since 2018 declared World Agricultural Heritage by FAO, stressed: “the great symbolism that represents for the region the recovery of the identity that characterized these territories for long decades since this region of ours has always been known and recognized as Alto Tâmega e Barroso”.
The mayor of Botiquense pointed out that the change of name of CIMAT, now integrating into its name the region of Barroso, will also help to “develop and catapult the Bio-Region of Alto Tâmega and Barroso, integrated into the international network of Bio-Regions.
“The Alto Tâmega e Barroso region has immense potentialities that are our obligation to promote, creating new economic opportunities for our population, generating social well-being and quality of life. The greatest wealth we have are, without a doubt, the people, who maintain a strong connection to the land,” said the head of the Boticas municipality, concluding that: “What unites us should always be much more than what separates us”.
The First Executive Secretary of CIMAT, Ramiro Gonçalves, also pointed out that this is another important step in the dimension of the ongoing territorial marketing strategy: “The ‘Alto Tâmega e Barroso’ is a strong brand, aggregator, representative, identitary and locates us unequivocally in the country, constituting this change of name, also in itself, a process of enhancement.

António Cunha: “It’s a name that unites the region even more”.

Also present at this event was António Cunha, president of the Northern Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N) who stressed the historical importance of the new name of this Intermunicipal Community: “It is a name that unites the region, even more, is a name that reconciles this territory with its history, is a name that in this integration exercise makes everyone more comfortable and, therefore, congratulations and many successes for the Intermunicipal Community of Alto Tâmega and Barroso”.
The last word was in charge of the Secretary of State for Regional Development that, between loud praise to CIMAT and the projects it has been developing, including AquaValor, was keen to highlight the identity of the territory, which “requires partnerships, also requires cohesion at the level of the Intermunicipal Community. We had the Alto Tâmega, but we also have this entire territory of Barroso and, therefore, it is important to aggregate here fundamental endogenous resources such as water, the agricultural territories that are world heritage, and that should make us all very proud, as well as renewable energy. Therefore, this region is not lacking in endogenous resources that can be used more and more to assert the identity of a territory because that is what will make the difference in terms of attracting investment, creating value, and creating jobs.
In the ceremony was held the presentation of the new video of the territory, shared by all digital media of the municipalities simultaneously that same day at 20h, and that can be viewed at the following address::https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCqRbr1LAOw&ab_channel=CIMAltoT%C3%A2megaeBarroso

The occasion, which was also attended by several other entities of the Northern region, also served to decorate the Wind Orchestra of the Chaves Academy of Arts with the second title of “Alto Tâmega and Barroso Ambassador”, having the first one been awarded to Jorge Braz, National Futsal Selector, last April. The evocation was in charge of Nuno Vaz, Mayor of Chaves, who highlighted the excellence and extraordinary work done by the Orchestra, referring also to the particularly important moment of the Region in this phase of transition of European funds, drawing attention to the need to promote greater cohesion within the Northern region in the distribution of such funds.
Those present were also graced by yet another extraordinary performance by our orchestra.
At the end of the ceremony, there was also a tasting of products from the region, to the sound of DJ Wild, thus showing the guests the best of the territory.