View source for Cape Verde aims for free trade zone with Atlantic islands-PM

By Axel Bugge<br><br>LISBON, May 7 (Reuters) - The Atlantic island nation of Cape Verde hopes to create a zone of free circulation for people and goods with the nearby Spanish Canary Islands and Portugal's Madeira and Azores, Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva said on Monday.<br><br>Cape Verde, made up of 10 islands off the West African coast, hopes to boost economic growth and tourism with such a deal, which could be helped further by plans to scrap all visa requirements for European [http://Www.buzznet.com/?s=travellers travellers] from the start of 2019.<br><br>"Our objective is to reinforce our links with Macronesia," Correia e Silva told business leaders and politicians at a conference in the Portuguese coastal resort town of Cascais.<br><br>Macronesia is the term used to describe the Atlantic archipelagos that include the Canaries, Cape Verde, Madeira and the Azores, which are all major [http://burmatourist.com/ myanmar tourist] destinations for Europeans.<br><br>"We are very advanced in our efforts to create a legal framework for an area of free circulation, for goods and people," in Macronesia, he said. "Our economic integration with Europe goes through Macronesia."<br><br>Cape Verde, a windswept, volcanic archipelago, was a Portuguese colony until 1975 and still has close links with Lisbon, where there is a large community of Cape Verdians.<br><br>It has seen stronger economic growth than most of the sub-Saharan countries in mainland Africa and in 2008 shed its Least Developed Country (LDC) status.<br><br>The International Monetary Fund has put Cape Verde's 2017 growth at 4 percent and expects it to reach 4.3 percent this year. Correia e Silva, whose government took office in 2016, said he stood by a pledge to deliver annual growth of 7 percent.<br><br>"NO THREAT TO ANYBODY"<br><br>The prime minister said Cape Verde had passed legislation to abolish all visa requirements for Europeans and hopes the European Union will do the same.<br><br>"We are a small nation and are no threat to anybody," he said. Cape Verde has a population of 500,000 but has large emigrant communities in Portugal and elsewhere in Europe.<br><br>Correia e Silva said Cape Verde was changing laws to make it easier for foreign investors to invest. Legislation was recently passed to hold foreign exchange accounts and transfer funds without restrictions.<br><br>The country links its local currency to the euro, which circulates freely in the economy.<br><br>The prime minister said Cape Verde was also working to boost its position as a hub for air travel - between the Americas and Europe and Africa - as well as hoping to become a digital hub for Africa. (Reporting By Axel Bugge Editing by Andrei Khalip and Gareth Jones)<br><br>Advertisement