The Municipality of Vila Real of Santo António is looking for any interested project parties on various thematic axis. Interested project parties may contact:
Francisco José Sabino
Município de Vila Real de Santo António
Praça Marquês de Pombal
8900-231 Vila Real de Santo António
Algarve – Portugal
Tel.: +351 281 510 016 / 014
Fax: +351 281 510 040 / 003
Email: candidaturas@cm-vrsa.pt
Site: www.cm-vrsa.pt
Vila Real de Santo António hosts three different smaller territorial administrative areas, each profiling a strong specialisation either on tourism, agriculture or in the tertiary sector. It has a population of 20,000 inhabitants during the winter months, tripling this number during special holidays and summer vacations.
The city of Vila Real de Santo António is located on the western side of the Iberian Peninsula, on the south-east corner of Portugal and the Algarve, by the Spanish border, with all the characteristics of a peripheral, border and Enlightenment urban area. It features an exceptional climate, low average precipitation rate and an average annual temperature of 17º.
Founded in 1774 by the Marquis of Pombal, the city was built in less than 2 years over a large sand area on the mouth of the river Guadiana. The main objective was to ensure the control of trading along this important frontier territory and to develop the fishery activity into what would later become the cannery industry. Located on a privileged confluence of natural features, the river Guadiana (at sunrise direction), the beach (southern limits), a large pinewood (towards sunset) and a natural reserve area (to the north), tourism and commerce are its main economical activity assets. It has available a wide range of attractions with some highlights like: the high quality Sports Centre, the Library, the local Historical Archive and other historical monuments.
Vila Real de Santo António has benefited from the Community funding during the different Programmes made available by the EU, with special reference to the INTERREG, URB-AL, EQUAL and the Cohesion Fund.
Projects like MÉRITE, CASTRUM, CIUMED, SETE SÓIS SETE LUAS (as the only Portuguese Municipality on the role of Lead Partner for the INTERREG IIIB), SPACE, BLUE, NAUTISMED, THON and GREENLINK, are some of the partnerships established by Vila Real de Santo António, resulting in significant improvements for its population.
The city embodies a strong belief and effort in benefiting, either from the typical experience exchanges that all cooperation projects provide, as well as the support of the aforementioned Programmes, mainly the sub-programmes from the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the South-eastern Europe.