Prime Minister José Maria Neves presided over the official opening of the Cape Verdean consular office in New Bedford, Massachusetts (USA) on Friday, November 7, and spoke about the importance of unity among Cape Verdeans.

In a lively ribbon-cutting ceremony, José Maria Neves officially unveiled the new Cape Verdean Community Center and Consular Office, located on Purchase Street in New Bedford, MA. According to the site of local newspaper South Coast Today, the Prime Minister highlighted the efforts the government has been making to make its services available to all Cape Verdean citizens, including the large number of immigrants and their descendants scattered around the globe.

“This center can help unite all Cape Verdeans,” said José Maria Neves. “I hope that this space is but a seed we have planted, and that the next time I come back it will have grown so that we can have a very productive harvest,” he stated.

Consular services in New Bedford began to be made available in September of this year through a partnership between the Consulate General of Cape Verde in Boston, New Bedford authorities and UMASS Dartmouth. “This space symbolizes the dream of the entire Cape Verdean community, of this city and of the entire South Coast region,” said Cape Verde’s consul in Boston, Maria de Jesus Mascarenhas.

New Bedford mayor Scott W. Lang also expressed his satisfaction at the opening of the complex, and paid homage to the contribution the Cape Verdean community had made to the city’s progress.

The consular service in New Bedford will operate three times a week via satellite with Cape Verde in order to provide services such as the issuing of passports or birth certificates to Cape Verdeans born in the archipelago but who live in the New Bedford region.