Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

Both my Wife and I are overjoyed to receive Your Excellency, Mister President, and Mrs. Maria da Luz Guebuza, as well as your notable retinue on this new Visit to Portugal.

A redoubled joy, of course, for the opportunity of welcoming old friends. Throughout these last few years, there were several occasions in which we met, both in Portugal and Mozambique and in other places in the World. On those opportunities it was always possible to ascertain the unique levels of understanding that we share, as well as the ambition to deepen and strengthen cooperation between our two countries.

We are greatly honoured today, Mister President, that you deigned to accept the invitation I addressed you, to render Portugal as the destination of the last bilateral Visit of your second mandate. When meeting you once more in my country, I cannot but recall, with utmost gratitude, the generosity with which my Wife and I were always received in Mozambique, a country to which we are linked with deep affection.

Mister President,
Relations between Portugal and Mozambique are going through moments of particular dynamism in several fields.

Very recently, the Second Portugal-Mozambique Summit, held in Maputo, confirmed the excellence of our bilateral relationship.

Your Excellency’s Visit is an important step in our commitment to exploit cooperation perspectives that may contribute to strengthen the existing partnerships between Portugal and Mozambique, in political, cultural, economic and entrepreneurial areas.

Emphasis should also be placed on the relevance we attribute to Portugal’s election to the presidency of G-19, within the framework of the programmatic partnership of support to the Mozambique State Budget. The exercise of this mandate at the head of G-19 rightly signals the qualitative deepening of our bilateral relationship, and we will surely endeavour to enhance the strengthening of the drive of the Mozambican Government towards the country’s development.

On a strictly bilateral point of view, Portugal will continue as a partner of Mozambique aimed towards the country’s sustainable development.

In spite of the demanding budgetary context, the Portugal-Mozambique Indicative Cooperation Programme has been able to maintain a level of financial involvement similar to that of the previous period.

Mister President,
It is my wish to express my appreciation to Mozambique and to its people on the way in which they have defended and enriched the Portuguese language. Both in the streets of Maputo and Beira, as well as in the works of José Craveirinha, Paulina Chiziane or Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa, the Portuguese language acquires, via Mozambican culture, new dimensions and greater projection.

It is equally my wish to congratulate Mozambique on how it has led the Presidency of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries, bringing into its organization, throughout its mandate, a growing assertive capability.

Until the Dili Summit we will continue working jointly in order that, in the current context of the debate on the future challenges of our organization, the Portuguese language and the values that characterize our Community, may be asserted and projected to bring about greater international visibility. This has been the key for the growing recognition of CPLP as a body deserving reference in today’s world, as is anyway shown by the CPLP’s relevant role in East Timor or in the issue of Guinea Bissau, and in the strategic interest that it is generating in countries such as Namibia, Georgia and Turkey, candidates to the charter of Associated Observer.

Mister President,
The relationship between our two countries is an unique asset, both in the political perspective and in that of the contact amongst our people and enterprises.

I am certain that the Business Seminar-Forum that is comprised in the programme of this Visit will contribute to encourage a greater number of trading and investment partnerships between both countries.

The economic dynamism that is expected to continue expanding in Mozambique throughout the next decade opens up many opportunities for the deepening of relations between our two countries. In this process, Portuguese companies, through their technological knowhow, as well as through their specialization in several relevant areas, may well contribute towards the diversification of the Mozambican economy.

Portuguese companies currently present in the Mozambican market are, in turn, aware of their social responsibility. Portugal will continue placing efforts in encouraging them to attribute scholarships to Mozambican students, complementing the State financed scholarships, similarly, anyway, to what was initiated in the past school year. Portugal thus wishes to contribute towards the training of Mozambican staff and to their insertion in the labour market, with mutual benefits within a long term partnership perspective.

Mister President,
We signal the efforts for constructive dialogue and political reconciliation that are being developed by the Mozambican Government in order that the Country, in an environment of full democratic consistency, advances in the path of progress and towards the improvement of the peoples’ living conditions.

I thank you, once again, for the contribution and the drive you have given towards the deepening of the relations between our two countries. You can also be certain, Mister President, of my personal drive in the strengthening of the bonds of friendship and cooperation that link the Mozambican and Portuguese peoples.

It is in this spirit that I ask you all to join me in a toast to the health and personal happiness of President Armando Emílio Guebuza and Mrs. Maria da Luz Guebuza, to the friendship between Portugal and Mozambique and to the growing prosperity of our two fraternal peoples.

Thank you very much.