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

Mr. President, Excellency,
Honourable Authorities,
Distinguished guests,


I am particularly pleased, Your Excellency, to receive you in that which is the first Official Visit of a Ghanaian Chief of State to Portugal. An honour enhanced by the circumstance that the Chief of State of Ghana is also the President of the African Union.

Your Excellency’s visit to Portugal is a renewed meeting of two friendly Countries. Two Countries that share the wish to project into the future a relation that is more than five hundred years old. Two Countries who want to contribute to a greater proximity between both their regions.

Fifty years ago, Ghana was the first African country south of the Sahara to achieve independence. As I had the opportunity to refer to Your Excellency in the message I sent you celebrating that occasion, it is a very symbolic date, not only for the Ghanaians, but also for the whole of the African Continent and for the History of the relations between peoples. The worldwide dimensions of the celebrations held on March 6 are a clear example of this.

After 50 years, Ghana is today a stable democracy, a country with a strongly growing economy and with a society that is both dynamic and progressive. The adoption of responsible policies of social and economic development, of fighting against poverty and the investment in principles of transparency and good governance, are a guarantee that Ghana is one of the better positioned African states to comply with the Millennium Development Objectives as its established aim.

Whilst a member of the United Nations Security Council, of the African Union and of the Economic Union of West African Countries, Ghana has invariably been an active promoter of the values of peace, stability and of a culture of respect for Human Rights. This stance has brought an ample and merited international prestige and recognition, of which the recent election of Your Excellency as President of the African Union was a proven example.

We have with us today, Mr. President, a representative of another country which occupies one of the Vice presidencies of the African Union, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Angola, who has greatly honoured us with his presence.

I wish here to reiterate my conviction that, under Your Excellency’s leadership, the African Union will greatly strengthen its role in the promotion of stability, integration and development of the whole Continent.

Mr. President,

Portugal is today a modern and open country, included in the larger context of the European Union, but with deep and historical links to the African Continent. We have privileged relations with the five Portuguese speaking African countries, but also with a large number of other African states, and we welcome in Portugal a vast community of citizens of African origin.

Our enterprises actively take part in a number of the reconstruction and economic development processes all over the Continent.

I am certain that Portuguese entrepreneurs, deeply knowledgeable of the African economic reality, could also accomplish an important role in the modernization and economic growth of Ghana.

It is well known, Mr. President that Portugal is, within the European context, an active and convinced defender of a continued strengthening of the relations between the European Union and Africa. I am firmly convinced that the relationship between our two Continents is not only immutable but has great mutual advantages, and that the social and economic development of Africa, apart from its intrinsic value, is of great strategic interest to Europe.

As Your Excellency is aware, it was during the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union, in 2000, that the structured dialogue between the European Union and the African Nations was first launched, when the first EU-Africa Summit took place in Cairo. This was the first European political initiative to approach Africa as a sole entity.

Portugal will be responsible, in the second half of 2007, to shoulder once more the Presidency of the European Union. This will surely be an excellent opportunity for, in close connection with the African Union, to again launch the political dialogue and the strategic partnership between both our Continents, an objective which I well know Your Excellency also shares.

The Council of Europe has just reiterated its firm support for the second EU-Africa Summit to take place in Lisbon during the second half of 2007. The African Union, itself, also wishes that this Summit comes to fruition. The current and future relations between Europe and Africa demand that our dialogue should run deeper. I sincerely hope, Mr. President, that the obstacles may be surpassed and that, before the end of this year I shall have the pleasure to receive you again in Portugal.

Mr. President,

I can assure you that Portugal will do all in its power, as it has done until now, to deepen the cooperation and friendship that link our two Countries and Peoples, but equally to provide a renewed impulse to the strategic cooperation between Europe and Africa.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I ask you all to join me in drinking the health of President John Kufuor, of the friendly People of Ghana, to the prosperity of the relations between Portugal and Ghana and to the strengthening of the cooperation between the European Union and the African Union.