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Mister President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Excellency
Madam Anna Hernández
Honourable Authorities
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am deeply grateful and honoured by Your Excellency’s words, Mister President of the Generalitat, and wish to signify the great pleasure my Wife and I have in visiting Catalonia, a land which is simultaneously a repository of an enormously rich History and Culture and a notable instance of dynamism and modernity.

Relations between Portugal and Catalonia assume special relevance within the framework of our relations with Spain. Catalonia is, amongst all the Autonomous Communities, our main trading partner and largest investor. There are a vast number of Catalonian companies operating in Portugal, as well as a significant Portuguese entrepreneurial presence in Catalonia.

And it is also in Catalonia that resides one of the largest Portuguese communities in Spain.

In effect, I have just met with a number of resident Portuguese students and young executives, and can state that I heard many words of appreciation over how well they were made welcome here and for the opportunities offered by Catalonia for their personal and professional achievement.

I am firmly convinced that all the conditions are available for us to be ambitious as to the future of our relationship.

Mister President of the Generalitat,

Within the economic and entrepreneurial areas we have to be able to view what is being heralded beyond the economic and financial crisis, and to identify new opportunities for business, investment and partnership. To achieve all this it is fundamental that we encourage contacts between our entrepreneurs.

We all know, however, that the competitiveness of our economies depends largely upon their capacity for innovation which, in its turn, requires a determined investment in scientific research. This is another of the chapters where our cooperation can and must be intensified.

It is exactly this purpose that I intend to emphasize during the visit that I will undertake tomorrow to the Barcelona Park of Biomedical Research, an example of quality in scientific research, and where Portuguese researchers also contribute.
We must not forget, however, that the approximation between peoples is based, before anything else, in the knowledge of each other’s cultural and linguistic realities. We all agree that there is much to be achieved with respect to greater cooperation and interchange between our artists, our writers, cultural and academic institutions.

In the area of language, I want to express my thanks for the opening that I ascertained existed as to the integration of the Portuguese language in Catalonia’s educational system.

The third European idiom in the world, Portuguese language is spoken by more than 250 million people, spread over the five Continents. It’s growing international projection and the protagonist stance that is being assumed by some of the countries where it is the official language makes it an important attribute of professional expertise in the world in which we live.

Mister President of the Generalitat,

I tried to make it clear in my words that the ambition that pushes us towards the future, and that our current relationship fully justifies, demands more dialogue, more understanding, more interchange and an improved mutual acquaintance, at every possible level.

These are the basic purposes for the creation of the Barcelona Iberian Forum. It was because I recognized its strategic value that I was pleased to accept the invitation addressed me to attend its inaugural ceremony.

It is in the name of the ambition for the future of our relationship that I ask you to join me in a toast to the health of the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, to the People of Catalonia and to the prosperity of the relations between Portugal and the Autonomous Community of Catalonia.

Moltes grácies President,
Moltes grácies Catalunya.