Honourable Intendant,
Honourable Ambassador,
Honourable Honorary Consul,
Ladies and Gentlemen


I would firstly wish to thank the Honourable Intendant for his very kind words and let him know how honoured I feel for having been awarded the Gold Key to the city of Colónia do Sacramento, a symbol of the presence of my ancestors in Uruguayan lands and of the entrepreneurial spirit with which the Portuguese are imbued. To view the enormous challenge which, in 1680, was accepted by Dom Manuel Lobo leaves us with a still greater responsibility to advance in our ambitions for a better future.

I have great pleasure in noting, Honourable Intendant, the effort taken to rebuild and preserve this historic heritage, which has been deservedly declared a Historical World Heritage. I look forward with great interest to the opportunity that I will have this afternoon to visit the streets of the historic quarter and to note how Your Excellencies have endeavoured to respect and value the Lusitanian legacy.

I cannot but praise the work carried out by the recently departed Professor Fernando Assunção who, with perseverance and a missionary spirit, was largely responsible for the rebuilding of the historic quarter of Colónia do Sacramento. The posthumous honour rendered him by the Portuguese Parliament referred “the way in which he always praised Portugal, making a point of publicly assuming his lineage and the pride he felt in his roots”. I share the conviction that, with his decease, Colónia lost a great friend and Portugal one of its best Ambassadors in this part of the World.

I equally wish to accentuate the actions carried out by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, crucial for the success of the project and for the raising of the historic quarter to World Heritage.

Thanks to the efforts of the Camões Institute, and especially to its Vice-President and next Portuguese Ambassador to Uruguay, Ambassador Luisa Bastos de Almeida, I am the bearer of 14 replicas of the muskets used by Portuguese soldiers in the XVII century. I know, Honourable Intendant, this is a wish of yours and of your City, for which Ambassador Garrido Guerra took great pains and has now been achieved.

However Colónia do Sacramento does not live only from its historical past, but has decisively invested in its economic and social development. I greatly admire how the peoples of Colónia link the preservation of their heritage with the dynamics they try to inspire in the economical activities of this Province.

The economic potential of Colónia is enormous. The vitality of a City that promotes tourism can be felt, as well as the activity of its port facilities, its industry and agriculture. A dynamic City which avails itself of the opportunities provided by geography and History to gather its people around a common objective: the improvement in the living conditions of the whole population.

Here as well, Honourable Intendant, the potential for cooperation with Portugal ought to be exploited. Portuguese presence, outstanding in the history of Colónia, should now be projected in the entrepreneurialism of the future.

Portuguese enterprises have, in the last few years, searched for new markets and invested in several diversified projects in Latin America. I am certain that a strengthened relationship between Portuguese and Uruguayan enterprises would be of great mutual benefit.

I thus leave you with the challenge to captivate the interest of Portuguese entrepreneurs, and to promote entrepreneurial cooperation. Our relationship can and must go beyond the historical marker. The advantage of a mutual knowledge of so many centuries will, I am sure, be a great contribution. This mutual knowledge is also the result of the efforts of the small but dynamic community of Portuguese and persons of Portuguese lineage, which, in a perfect social assimilation, have added value to the relationship between my Country and your Province and your Country.

I honour those that far away from Portugal, have known how to keep alive the Portuguese soul and spirit.

The empathy and mutual knowledge which exists between our two people are also a result of the dissemination of our cultures and our languages. I hail with satisfaction the various cultural initiatives which have been promoted in close collaboration between the Intendancy, the Portuguese Embassy and the Honorary Consul in Colónia do Sacramento, making an appeal that the future brings a still greater invigoration of this cultural dialogue which is so enriching.

Honourable Intendant


I was very pleased to accept the invitation to visit Colónia do Sacramento during my stay in Uruguay to attend the Iberian American Summit Meeting. I have long been interested in seeing your City and its historic beauty. But I would equally wish, with my presence here, to leave a view for the future as well, for what may be jointly carried out, for the advantages that we can extract from common projects and partnerships, which will reflect the trust that brands our relationship. This will be the best way for us to rise to the legacy of the past.

Thank you very much.