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I was very pleased to accept the invitation to come today to Santiago do Cacém, this beautiful land with pre-historic origins, which heads a county with great natural wealth, and is the transition between the interior and coastal regions of the Alentejo province, and to attend the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Agricultural Cooperative Bank, which include the opening of its new headquarters.

The ninety years of this Agricultural Cooperative Bank reveal a notable longevity, but without any signs of ageing. The Cooperative may be almost secular, but it is not old.

In effect, youth is its image since it enjoys good health and is growing dynamically, both with the enlargement of its geographical operational area, and with an important participation in initiatives which prop up the development of the region.

I believe that the praiseworthy performance of the Santiago do Cacém Cooperative Bank is recognized by all, both within and without the county, either in difficult interior areas with few inhabitants or in coastal areas with great economic and environmental relevance, where the challenge for sustained development requires dynamic and informed participation which the Cooperative Bank has helped to ensure.

I thus applaud its officers and members for the anniversary we are celebrating today, without forgetting all those responsible for its birth and growth since 1916, and who made it into one of the paramount agricultural cooperative banks in Portugal.

The history of the Santiago Agricultural Cooperative Bank is in great part the history of Agricultural Credit, the top echelons of which it recently headed.

The contribution of the Agricultural Cooperative Credit Banks to the development of our Country and especially of its rural areas is long and of great interest. Its historical roots may be tied to the “mercy homes” or the so called “Common Granaries”, dating from the eighteenth century, but it was at the beginning of the republican regime, in 1911, that Minister Brito Camacho instituted the true agricultural credit in Portugal.

From then on, the Agricultural Credit Banks did not stray from their original mission of supporting agriculture, where the majority of its members are recruited, or from the essentially rural areas, where most of its branches are located.

I am pleased to outline that the Agricultural Credit Group, which includes the Santiago do Cacém Cooperative Bank, is constituted today by 111 Cooperative Banks, with 600 branches open to its members and distributed throughout our rural territory, where it occupies a leading place amongst the financial institutions, exception made of the Lisbon and Porto financial markets.

I am also pleased to single out the good results of the group during the last years in the multiple activities in which it has taken part, a consequence of a progressive adoption of good practices which have been introduced in its credit system and of an important effort in financial consolidation with already visible results.

Rural Portugal, the development of which is vital to maintain the fundamental balance of our Country, needs institutions such as the Agricultural Cooperative Credit Banks. These are subject, as all other credit institutions, to a very competitive logic which demands great management capacity. But we must not forget that its tradition, culture and objectives turn them into tools for the development of proximity, which includes solidarity and even social inclusion.

I wish the Santiago do Cacém Agricultural Credit Cooperative Bank, its officers and members, all best wishes for the future and that they may celebrate many more anniversaries.

Your already lengthy history and your determination and sense of responsibility are one of the best guarantees that you will continue to properly provide the service required by the development of the region to which you belong.