The Commission urged effective action on the two sites already being addressed and completion of the review on additional sites. 15. The Commission agreed on the importance of addressing the incident at the Cabrito pipeline in forthcoming bilateral consultations. 16. The Commission was briefed on the state of play of trade and investment relations and prospects for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) negotiations and expressed support for the continuation of negotiations. 17. On the Azores, Portugal and the United States had discussions on ongoing cooperation for the benefit of the region’s economic development. The Commission took good note of the good progress with regard to the proposals presented by the Regional Government of Azores within the Azores Committee. The Commission reiterated the importance of the Azores Committee as an essential subsidiary body to follow-up on such initiatives and to discuss future proposals. 18. The Commission highlighted the valuable existing cooperation in science and technology, environment and energy. The Commission was briefed by His Excellency the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, Manuel Heitor, on the latest update of the Atlantic International Research Center (AIR Center) initiative, in follow-up to his most recent visit to the United States. Both delegations praised ongoing discussions towards the creation of the AIR Center, in the Azores, as a unique opportunity to promote science and technology through transatlantic and north-south cooperation. Minister Manuel Heitor invited the United States to participate at the upcoming Ministerial Summit and high-level Industry-ScienceGovernment Dialogue on the “Atlantic International Research Center “ which will take place in the Azores in April 2017. 19. The Commission praised the important contribution that both the LusoAmerican Development Foundation and the Fulbright Commission have given to bilateral cooperation in this area. The Commission highlighted the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 23rd November 2016 between Portugal’s Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) and the Fulbright Commission to award 30 new grants in all fields of study to Portuguese researchers – 25 for pre-doctoral research and 5 for sabbatical research. It also noted a new Fulbright scholarship for U.S. researchers in marine resources supported by Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA).