Welcome to the page of the State Visit to Angola

I wish to begin by thanking you for your presence and let you know how pleased I am for your having accepted, in such expressive numbers, my invitation for you to join me here this afternoon.

I wanted my programme for this State Visit to Angola to include the opportunity to be with you, mainly for two reasons.

The first is to hear you and to have a closer knowledge of your experience of living in these parts. I have endeavoured to be alert to the feelings and expectations of our communities that reside abroad. I even set up a Consultancy to aid me specifically in this area and I have spent all the anniversaries of my mandate with our communities in foreign parts.

I am aware that the reasons that brought you to Angola are much diversified. But I am also aware that, independently from each one’s path and personal history there is in all of you, in addition to the will to conquer in this land, a deep love for your Fatherland, for Portugal..

And this leads me to the second of the main reasons why I wanted to be with you during this Visit: to thank you. To thank you, as your President, and on behalf of our country, the image of it that you communicate, through your effort, your dedication, your honesty and your professional and enterprising capabilities.

To thank you, also, for the example you are showing the Portuguese, in the difficult times that our Country is going through. Example, for showing that in each of you there is the stamp of some one who did not resign, that dared to take risks, that dared to search for something better, that dared to invest in yourself and in your capabilities. .

In short, you are the mirror of what turned Portugal into a great nation, those valorous people of whom the Poet spoke. And which will lead us, I am certain, to overcome the current difficulties, strengthened by the confidence that we have proved our ability to do so.

To thank you also for the contribution that your presence and your actions constitute for the strengthening of our relations with Angola.

I know that, also in Angola, the effects of the economic and financial crisis were felt, and the effect of this in the life of the Portuguese companies which are operating here, especially the small and medium sized companies. I am also aware that there are persistent bureaucratic barriers which do not facilitate the exercise of your activities. I also know that there are appeals for a greater level of juridical certainty in trading relations and in the treatment of legal processes.

These and many others are the topics of my contacts with the Angolan authorities.

The contacts held leave me with no doubts that the Angolan authorities, such as us, attribute a strategic value to the relations and cooperation with Portugal. I now expect that, at the adequate level, the positive signs I received will be materially followed up.
I end, wishing you the greatest of success. Professional, personal and family success. And to let you know that you can continue counting on me to be mindful of your problems, your projects and your expectations.

My best thanks to you all.