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

Mister President, Excellency,
Honourable Authorities,
Distinguished Guests,

We are extremely pleased to welcome you, Mister President, as well as Mrs. Mariama Mané Sanhá, on this Official Visit to Portugal.

We welcome Your Excellency with the affection we reserve to those nearest to us. Nearness based on historic, human, cultural and linguistic bonds which we wish to see strengthened.

Bonds which owe much to the presence, in Portugal, of a significant Guinean community which, through its effort and its work, is rendering a valuable contribution for the development of our society.

Mister President,

Portugal has always been and will continue to be at the side of the Guinean People, in support of peace, reconciliation and national reconstruction.

It is for this reason that we take note of the positive signs that reach us on the development of the political process and the security conditions in Guinea Bissau.

These are encouraging developments, which allow great expectations as to the capability of Guinea Bissau and its political leadership to face the many challenges imposed by the difficult process of consolidation of the Rule of Law.

The Rule of Law which, as Your Excellency emphasizes implies conditions of political and institutional stability, indispensable to the climate of confidence required for the economic and social development which is the right of the people of Guinea Bissau.

The Rule of Law which is not related with the scourge of drug trafficking and corruption, which undermine the confidence of the people and of the economic agents in the institutions, and irremediably compromise the future of societies.

The Rule of Law which allows answering the ambitions and the concerns of the people, in such pressing areas as health and education.

Mister President,

These are challenges which Your Excellency has been the first to call attention. Challenges which demand great determination and courage. The same determination and courage, after all, that the people of Guinea Bissau exemplified when exercising their right to vote, electing Your Excellency in the name of hope for a better future.

I want you to be aware Mister President that you can always count upon Portugal’s support in achieving these objectives, through bilateral cooperation, and through the mustering of the international community.

Relations between Portugal and Guinea Bissau are nowadays based upon an extensive and diversified network of contacts and on an interchange which practically covers all sectors of activity.

The Portuguese Cooperation in Guinea Bissau is the practical expression of this reality.

A cooperation which has been channelled towards the sectors that Guinea Bissau has defined as a priority for its development: the reduction of poverty, economic and social progress, consolidation of peace and democracy, improvement in the access to health and education, institutional capability and the Reform in the Sector of Defence and Security.
But we must look beyond the strict horizons of Cooperation policy. We believe in the future of Guinea Bissau as a destination of investments. Portuguese entrepreneurs, due to their international experience and knowledge of the reality of Guinea Bissau, could accomplish, I am certain, a relevant role in bringing dynamics into the economy, in job creation and in the improvement in the living conditions of the people.

I am certain that Your Excellency’s visit will contribute to strengthen the climate of trust which the economic agents and investors require to intensify their stake in Guinea Bissau.

Mister President,

Portugal and Guinea Bissau share a linguistic and cultural identity with the Member States of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries.

In a global and interdependent world, but which also has great disparities in terms of development, such as ours, belonging to a Community with more than 250 million people is an asset of prime importance to successfully face the challenges before us.

The Portuguese language assumes, in this perspective, a strategic value as a vehicle of cultural assertion and in the defence and promotion of our values and interests. From this derives the commitment assumed by all the CPLP Member States to work jointly towards achieving a greater assertion and international projection of our common language.

This projection starts in our own countries, in the fight for the education of our people. And continues with the use we give to the Portuguese language in our international contacts, including the multilateral organizations in which we belong.

Guinea Bissau has the support of the remaining CPLP Member States in the demanding challenge to provide education, in Portuguese, to its entire people.

Mister President,

No process of political reform, democratic consolidation or economic modernization is exempt from difficulties and obstacles, as Portugal and the Portuguese are the first to know. But there is nothing more compensating than to watch the effect in the lives of the people of the measures which provide them with the progress which is their right.

Guinea Bissau and Your Excellency know that they can be certain, as has always been the case, of Portugal’s firm and unequivocal support. .

It could not be otherwise between brethren Countries and people and, furthermore, because we believe in the future of Guinea Bissau.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is in the name of this future that I ask you all to join me in my best wishes for the health of President Malam Bacai Sanhá and his wife, for the growing prosperity of the Guinean people and for the strengthening of the brotherly relations between Portugal and Guinea Bissau.

Thank you very much