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

We are greatly pleased to welcome in Portugal President Peña Nieto, Mrs. Angelica Rivera and the retinue that accompanies them on this State Visit. A Visit that is anyway particularly symbolic, since it coincides with the celebration of the 150 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries.

Please also allow me to address, in Your Excellency’s name, a particular greeting to Mexico, at the time when it presides at the Iberian American Conference, an unmistakable reference in the dialogue between Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. I am certain we will reach very useful gains in the meeting in Vera Cruz of the 24th Summit of Heads of State and of Government.

Mister President,

Our historic bonds are secular. The cultural affinities, the values we share, the convergence of our positions in the international stage, and how our economies are complemented, result in the fact that Mexico and Portugal are natural partners. The deepening of the bilateral relationship between both our countries is thus a priority, due the potential of the opportunities it contains.

I thus confess my satisfaction owing to the fact that, in the last years, our relations have acquired new dynamics, which resulted in the signature of bilateral agreements covering diverse fields. I am also pleased to emphasize that, during Your Excellency’s visit, several agreements concerning institutional cooperation will be concluded, in addition to others between Portuguese and Mexican companies.

A special word is due to the Pacific Alliance, a new reference in international relations, in which Mexico is a founder member. In this Forum, Portugal, as an observer country, will measure up to its responsibilities and will fully assume its commitments.

Mister President,

The relationship between Mexico and Portugal comprises an opportune concourse between, on the one hand, the dimension and the dynamism of the Mexican economy and society and, on the other, the opening of the Portuguese economy to foreign investment, and the preparedness and quality of the Portuguese companies and academic and cultural executants. The convergence of these two vectors generates opportunities and synergies that we must encourage and support. Mexico, I repeat, presents itself as a prospective partner, with whom we want to consolidate our relations.

I am equally convinced that the success of the cycle of reforms that Your Excellency has been promoting will widen still further the cast of opportunities of those that, such as us, invest in opening and in the internationalization of the economy.

I greet the very expressive entrepreneurial retinue that has accompanied Your Excellency. It is my wish that the entrepreneurial seminar, to be held tomorrow, may provide good and fruitful contacts between the companies of our two countries.

I am pleased to record that Portuguese companies are already participating in the large projects being carried out in Mexico, in such diversified areas as health, infrastructure, renewable energies or information and communication technologies. It is our duty to consolidate the existing dynamics and to create the conditions for the development of new cooperation initiatives.

In Latin America, Mexico is a strategic partner of the European Union, with a specific and unique statute. In addition to an intensive political dialogue, institutionalized in the biannual summits, this special relationship between Mexico and Europe also comprises a Free Trade Agreement. Portugal, as an interested member of the European Union, indisputably supports the ongoing revision of that Agreement. You may rely, Mr. President, upon our firm assistance in this issue.

Mister President,

I am convinced that we are going in the right direction. We are being able to transpose to the civil society, in its several dimensions, the excellence that characterizes our political relations. This is the course that, determinedly, we must continue to follow.

Your Excellency’s visit to Portugal is a decisive milestone in the history of our relationship. In the global world in which we now live, and in which the Portuguese were foremost, this is the right time for us to actively and decidedly drive the deepening of our cooperation.

For Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the recently departed Mexico’s adopted son, and whose memory I now symbolically evoke, “Life is no more than a continuous succession of opportunities”. Committed to the common weal and with the interests of the citizens of our two countries, it is our duty to identify and to be able to take advantage of the opportunities arising out of our relationship.

And in this spirit I ask you all to join me in a toast to the health and prosperity of President Enrique Peña Nieto, of Mrs. Angelica Rivera, of the friendly People of Mexico and to the future of the relationship between our two countries.