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

Honourable President of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,
Honourable President of the Republic of Chile,
Honourable Presidents of the Republics of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Honduras,
Honourable Members of the Civic and Entrepreneurial Encounters,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all I wish to thank and to applaud the presence of all the participants in this Civic Encounter. This initiative has two obvious advantages. It stimulates the participation of the civic society in the procedures of the Iberian-American Summits, and also enriches the debate between Heads of State and of Government.

Your agenda highlights, and rightly so, the importance of human rights.

The thirtieth anniversary of the Portuguese Constitution of 1976 was celebrated this year. This was a result of the transition to democracy commenced on April 25, 1974 and which allowed raising and consolidating a Rule of Law based on human dignity and on political, economic and social freedom.

Portugal showed its face to the world once the transition to democracy became stabilized. It initiated its process of adhesion to the European Community, which it joined in 1986, and endeavoured to build a privileged relationship with the seven Portuguese speaking countries.

Vast changes occurred in Portugal, in the last 30 years and, very especially, in the last two decades. The substantial improvement in living conditions and the economic and social development which took place were due to a great effort of the Portuguese people, obviously encouraged by the European objective.

The levels of education and qualification of human resources were improved, as were the conditions concerning health and housing, and, as a counterpart, the indices of poverty and social exclusion were greatly decreased. Respect for human dignity is now an essential value of our society. The Portuguese have shown how important this value is for them, not only in internal debate as in their attitude towards international issues, as indeed was demonstrated in the unforgettable enthusiasm of all Portuguese society in the defence of the independence of the people of East Timor.

The adhesion to the European Union, with all its heritage of values, had an important role in the consolidation of democracy in Portugal, specifically in what it implies in transparency and control of the decisions of the political bodies and in the strengthening of the juridical, political and social tools available to the people to defend their rights

Thus the reason why, when defending attempts at regional integration, I do not limit myself to an economic or technocratic view. It is fundamental that a code of values and principles exists underlying the integration process. It is equally fundamental that, with the deepening of relations among States, that heritage of common values should be disseminated and become rooted in the societies. In this sense, the deepening of the political dimension in the integration processes also means the consolidation of its democratic dimension. Regional integration is, and must be, more than a mere integration of economies, an integration of democracies.

The consolidation of democracy and of its intrinsic values is the best defence against whatever divides the peoples and rouses divisions and conflicts which hinder progress. Because democracy implies debate, confronting of ideas; because democracy, the more perfected it is, places greater demands on the politicians in the search for answers to challenge and in the design of policies that serve national interest.

A democratic society is able to recognize that migrations are historical phenomena which, in many cases, created great enrichment of the countries involved. Not just economically, but socially and culturally.

But a democratic society is also aware that the migrant phenomena have very often underlying extremely serious issues of economic and social development. That illegal immigration frequently feeds criminal networks trafficking and exploiting human beings. For this reason a democratic society is obliged, when it combats illegal immigration, to look for the roots of the problems beyond the border controls. This implies that the implacable fight against traffic networks of human being be accompanied by a consistent policy of aid to development.

The migratory phenomenon is especially present in Latin America..

As Head of the Portuguese State, I cannot but remember the times when many of my fellow citizens arrived here, looking for a better future and conditions of personal and professional realization that Portugal was then unable to provide.

We were a country of emigration for a very long time. The recent knowledge of such a reality obliges us to a particular effort of fellowship and support for the integration, in Portuguese society, of the immigrants which are now coming to us. Today there are many more citizens of other countries which come to Portugal to live and work than Portuguese that emigrate.

The integration of the immigrant communities is one of the greatest challenges of social inclusion which we face in Portugal. I will not hide from you that it has not always been easy to find an adequate answer for it. The evolution of the latter years was very fast and we have to adapt to the new reality which is the presence in Portugal of large immigrant communities of many different provenances..

Jointly with the Prime Minister of Portugal I shall have the opportunity, tomorrow, to share with the remaining Heads of State and Government, the reflections caused by the migratory phenomena. The Iberian-American Summits are a privileged background for debating this issue, due to the diversity of situations and experiences to be confronted. The contribution of this Civic Encounter for such a debate will, I am certain, be of great benefit to allow us to find better ways to answer the challenges that these new ages place before us.

Once again, thank you very much.