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

We are very pleased to welcome Your Excellency, Mister President, as well your retinue, on this State Visit to Portugal.

I wish to express how honoured we feel with your first visit to our country, which I am certain will be a valuable contribution towards the political, economic and cultural relationship between Portugal and Senegal.

Mister President,

In the latter years both our countries have proven our drive to strengthen our relationship. The meetings of the Luso-Senegalese Joint Commission, in 2011 and 2014, and the setting up of a Follow-up Committee, allowed providing new dynamics in our relations in differing areas.

Due to our past history, to the values we share and by our common interest in stability, in the wellbeing and in the progress of the African Continent, Portugal and Senegal have often come together to discuss the realities of third countries – but it is equally pressing to closely examine the many opportunities that are offered mutually for the narrowing of contacts and partnerships between our institutions, our entrepreneurs and our peoples.

The African Continent is already Portugal’s second largest trading partner, at regional level. A large number of Portuguese companies are established in Africa, cementing an enviable capital of experience and knowledge on the Continent’s entrepreneurial reality.

Senegal has known how to awaken the interest of a growing number of Portuguese companies and investors: its dynamic economy, its strategic relevance in the region in which it is inserted and the drive placed on development programmes such as the Emerging Senegal Programme, make it easier to forecast that this trend will deepen further in the very near future.

It is the responsibility of the political decision makers, in Lisbon and in Dakar, to consolidate the important steps that have been taken to promote a closer relationship, such as the Double Taxation Agreement, signed in 2014, and the Agreement for the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investment, of 2011. It also pleases me to note the relevance of the instruments signed during Your Excellency’s visit, such as the Cooperation Protocol on the Issues of Management of Transport and of Development of Infrastructure and the Protocol between AIECP (Portuguese Foreign Investment and External Trade Agency) and its Senegalese counterpart, APIX.

Culturally, the relationship between our countries also has a wide field of growth. We are very pleased with the great drive that Senegal has placed on the teaching of Portuguese as a part of the Senegalese educational system. Portuguese is one of the most studied foreign languages in Your Excellency’s country and we are very proud to recall protocols subscribed in February last, which will place the teaching of Portuguese at University level. This is undoubtedly a relevant factor of proximity between our countries.

Mister President,

In the troubled times we are going through, and in the face of the resurgence of dramatic phenomena of violence and intolerance, there is a growing importance in the role of stability, maturity and moderation that Senegal has been performing in its geographical area. Senegal enables us, due to the correct functioning of its democratic institutions, and to the balanced conviviality amongst the different ethnical groups, to hope that other countries may learn with such current day to day examples.

I am aware, Mister President, that this is also the spirit that encourages you in the honourable duty that you have assumed as President of CEDEAO at the time when this organization celebrates its 40th anniversary. Throughout the years when I was called upon to fulfil offices with political responsibilities, I was always guided by the conviction that the instances of regional integration and dialogue are imbued with crucial importance.

In light of the values shared by Portugal and Senegal, specifically in respect of the primacy of dialogue, democracy and respect for Human Rights, we must express our pleasure that Senegal is one of the oldest Associated Observers of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP). It is important to exploit all the potentialities offered by this situation, particularly in relation to economic and trading issues.

I believe that our two countries have not only the opportunity, but equally the responsibility to continue energizing the good relations of cooperation which exist between CPLP and CEDEAO, including following up the situation in Guinea Bissau, in coordination with other international instances.

Mister President,

I allow myself to address once more the inherent importance of Your Excellency’s visit. The meetings you held today and the Entrepreneurial Forum which will take place tomorrow will surely renew the impetus of our relationship. Our countries share history, fundamental values, share cultural features and more than ever demonstrate a notable reciprocal understanding.

Considering the opportunities and challenges faced by the African Continent, I believe it is imperative that Portugal and Senegal should maintain a frequent and close dialogue, exchanging information, ideas and experiences, jointly working in order that the values we share may be asserted and put forward more than ever visible internationally: the values of stability, of prudence and dialogue, as well as the fundamental principles of the defence of the democratic Rule of Law, of Human Rights and of economic and social development.

I thus expect, Mister President, that your visit will be assumed as a marker. A marker guiding our countries to provide a novel sense to the beauteous words of the Senegalese novelist and poet Birago Diop: “From then on we follow / We follow the paths / The paths and the roads/ Beyond the sea and further, further still / Beyond the sea and still further on”. Many are the areas, Mister President, where we can travel together and want to travel beyond that.

It is in this spirit that I ask you all to join me in a toast to the personal health and happiness of President Macky Sall, to the friendship between Portugal and Senegal and to the growing prosperity of both our countries.

Thank you very much.