Welcome to the page of the State Visit to Slovakia

Mister President Ivan Gašparoviè, Excellency,
Honourable Ministers,
Honourable Secretary of State,
Honourable Ambassadors,
Honourable Presidents of the Slovakian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, of AIP and AICEP,
Renowned Guests,

I would like to commence my address by very specially thanking President Ivan Gašparoviè for his presence in this Economic Seminar, which greatly honours us. I also wish to congratulate the Slovakian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, associated to the Portuguese Industrial Association and to AICEP, for setting up this excellent initiative. I salute and am also grateful for the presence of all participants.

I will not hide from you the great respect I have for the Slovak Republic. There are two specific reasons for this. The singularly peaceful means – a gentleness which has moreover been compared to that of velvet – of its return to the values of freedom and democracy and its emergence, in 1993, as a sovereign and independent State. And the singularly fast and determined way in which the Country was changed and modernized, thus achieving its adhesion, in 2004, to the European Union, and quickly exhibiting, after all, an appreciable rate of economic expansion and enviable growth rates, comparable even on a worldwide basis.

In less than one and a half decades of deep structural reforms and of a skilful guidance of its macroeconomic policies, the Slovak Republic demonstrated it was capable of satisfying the convergence criteria to become a member of the Euro area, which will occur as from next year.

It is thus surprising, to say the least, that the economic and trade relations between two member States which are well integrated in the European market such as Portugal and the Slovak Republic have remained, apart from some encouraging instances, far below what is possible and desirable.

I believe that, between the Slovak Republic and Portugal there is a yet to be developed discovery procedure and a vast field of complementarities still to be explored. The wishes of the economic, political and cultural agents must be more proactively mustered and possibly even more interconnected. Important above all is to provide that the opportunities for bilateral cooperation are better and that business is made possible.

It is thus my belief that this Seminar presents an excellent opportunity for the strengthening of entrepreneurial relationship and for reinforcing the economic links between our two countries. Providing, on the one hand, closer contacts between entrepreneurs and highly placed Portuguese and Slovakian professionals. More than that, contributing for a better knowledge of what is currently being produced in the Slovak Republic and in Portugal, countries which are in close proximity as members of a community that share identical issues and expectations, but also, rapidly mutant economies which, geographically, are placed in opposing bands of the European area.

Portugal, that adhered in the mid-eighties to a 10 Member-State Community, and became one of the founder countries of the Euro zone, is well acquainted with the challenges of European integration. And we all know that the growing globalization which we have been witnessing in the last decades brings with it challenges and opportunities on an unprecedented scale.

In order to answer these challenges, Portugal has been going through great changes and is itself carrying out a relevant set of reforms, not just in the range of the economy but also in many other areas. Although it has faced some difficulties in adjustment, the structure of the Portuguese economy is changing very rapidly, and this is visible in the current profile of exports, which is quickly being removed from the characteristic standard of specialization of many years.
It has anyway been growing in areas with a heavy scientific and cultural content – biotechnology, software applications, information, robotics and communication technology, renewable energy - a new generation of enterprises and entrepreneurs, many of them with a global vocation,

Some of these enterprises are included in the entrepreneurial retinue which accompanies me in this my first State Visit to the Slovak Republic, and is representative, at the highest level, of the more dynamic sectors of the Portuguese economy, growingly oriented towards innovation and internationalization.

Enterprises which have international experience, with achievements and expertise that place them favourably to face many of the needs for cooperation and investment associated to the current stage of development of the Slovakian economy, and to carry out its programme of community support, as I believe is the case with transport and communications infrastructures, home facilities, the energy sector, automobile industry and information and communication technology.

These are enterprises that well illustrate the Portugal of the 21st century, a modern and welcoming country, with a vast historical and cultural heritage, excellent infrastructures and a highly developed financial system. An open economy favourable to foreign investment and to new technologies and which is able to show multiple centres of technological and scientific excellence and entrepreneurial creativity.

I am convinced that Portugal and Portuguese enterprises have much to offer the Slovak Republic. And the Slovak Republic, in its turn, has surely much to offer Portugal.

More than good intent or fine words, it is time to act. We can and must, jointly, achieve more than we have until now. We can and must take full advantage of our common membership of that great area of freedom of circulation of goods, services, people and capital which is the European single market.

I confidently expect that the work carried out in this Seminar, which is now closing, provides a determining contribution, in order that Slovakian and Portuguese entrepreneurs may identify and exploit, concretely and for mutual benefit, interests and opportunities.

Thank you very much.

Dakujem.