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Dear Emigrants,

In this National Day of Portugal, I wish to send all the Portuguese Communities spread around the World a very warm greeting and a word of appreciation for the example they are showing our Country.

On the first anniversary of my being empowered as President of the Republic, I visited Luxembourg, where I congregated with the numerous resident Portuguese communities. I wished to show, with that gesture, the respect and admiration deserved by our emigrants and their families and the relevance I attribute to them in the context of the Portuguese nation.

I saw, in Luxembourg – as, anyway, in many other occasions –, that the Portuguese Communities are not only completely integrated in the societies that hosts them, but an example to everyone as well.

Emigrants show us that there are no inevitable destinations or irreversible fatalities and that it is always possible to change the course of our lives. With work, creativity and capacity for taking risks. In fact, with the same ambition that led us to discover new worlds and new peoples.

There are many cases of success abroad, examples of Portuguese and Portuguese descendants who assert themselves in the societies where they reside, and stand out in many diverse pursuits, from entrepreneurial activity to the academic world, from scientific research to culture, from the liberal professions to civic life. I exhort them to continue their efforts, which should include the added value which is the Portuguese language.

Saluting the spirit of initiative of our emigrants I announced, during my visit to Luxembourg, the setting up, under my sponsorship, of a Prize for Innovation intended to annually distinguish projects presented by Portuguese citizens resident in foreign parts.

It is my firm endeavour to do whatever is within my reach in order that emigrants and Portuguese descendants do not lose – rather reinforce – the links that unite them to the land whence they departed. For this purpose I have tried to maintain direct contact with the Portuguese Communities and to follow up the realities of our Diaspora.

I will soon pay a visit to the United States of America. I wished to reserve a significant part of that visit to have close contact with some of the Portuguese Communities in that country.

I will take with me the incitement which I now make to all emigrants: do not forget that there is a Country where it all started and that remains yours. That Country is Portugal.

Do not think only of a Portugal which has a more or less remote origin. See it also as a destination, a Country which has changed much and which will always be ready to welcome you – as well as to receive your initiatives and the experience you have accumulated abroad.

I know it is not always easy to maintain such links, and that affection and longing may not be sufficient to ensure the preservation of solid bonds between emigrants and their origins.

There are a large number of practical issues faced by emigrants, which must be resolved and cannot be ignored or dismissed by the Portuguese State.


Institutional structures must be guaranteed in order that emigrants can maintain and deepen contacts with their country of origin. It is necessary that emigrants be aware of the Portuguese reality and follow up its evolution; that they understand, for example, that their Country today offers new opportunities for productive investments to be undertaken.

In the same way those emigrants, in their own and in Portugal’s interest, should continue to be in contact with their Country of origin, it is also crucial that they are fully integrated in the communities in which they reside and work.

Taking part in the civic life of the countries of destination is imperative for citizenship. I thus wish to encourage emigrants to deepen their involvement in their host countries.

Local civic activities, participating in associations, establishing contacts with those responsible for the hosting communities, are crucial elements for a healthy integration and for the assertion of the extraordinary vitality of the Portuguese Communities all over the World.

Portuguese culture owes much to our emigrants. They are the guardians of our Language in various parts of the planet. They are the transmitters to other peoples of the values, the traditions, and the knowledge that constitute the essential nucleus of the singular Portuguese identity.

Thanks to you, Portugal is everywhere. A fundamental motive for, in this Day of Camões, to bring to every emigrant the deep admiration and recognition of the President of the Portuguese Republic.