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Your Excellency, President of the Republic of Uruguay
Madam Maria Auxiliadora Delgado Vázquez
Honourable Authorities
Illustrious guests,

My Wife and I are very pleased to welcome Your Excellency, Mr. President, and Your Wife, on this visit to Portugal, in answer to the invitation I had the honour to address you, last year, on the occasion of the 16th Iberian-American Summit, in Montevideo.

Portugal welcomes Your Excellency as Head of State of a Country with which we have bonds of great friendship, based upon a secular acquaintanceship and upon a community of intents regarding the future which we wish for our bilateral relationship and for the world of tomorrow.

But Portugal also welcomes you as pro tempore President of MERCOSUR, at a time when my country has the role of President of the Council of the European Union and during which important negotiations are being held with the objective of bringing about a Treaty between both Organizations.

It would be difficult to find a better symbol as to how we understand our bilateral relationship than that of the Colony of Sacramento, which I had the opportunity to visit. Because of the very touching preserverance with which an historical memory is daily preserved there, and also because of the intelligence with which that legacy, now a World Heritage, is capitalized as a relevant factor of progress. This is what we need for the relations between our two countries: preserve the memory on which they are laid and, based upon it, take advantage of the multiple possibilities that are offered us by the present and by the future.

The present and the future which should be the subject of greater dialogue and cooperation in areas of mutual interest. Portugal sees in Uruguay a partner with whom it wishes, in the context of its relationship with Latin America, to tighten bonds and encourage new means of understanding.

The Treaties which will be signed during Your Excellency’s visit, in the areas of Defence, Health and Economic Cooperation are an important step in that direction, to which others should be added shortly, or so we hope, in the areas of Justice and of Culture.

With respect to Culture, I must underline the efforts which have been put forward for the promotion and dissemination of Portuguese language and culture in Uruguay.

I am aware that, along with the English language, the Uruguayan Government means to give preference to the Portuguese language, spoken by more than 250 million people over the five Continents. I assure you, Mister President, the wish of the Portuguese state in cooperating in such a relevant domain, as is anyway already reflected by the initiatives which the Portuguese Embassy and the lectureship of Instituto Camões have lately been so successfully developing.

But the strengthening of the bonds between the two countries equally depends upon an intense and fruitful economic and trading relationship. These are areas in which we are still very far from what we can achieve together.

In this perspective, I wish to salute the significant entrepreneurial retinue which accompanied Your Excellency and the meaning of its presence amongst us. In a very important initiative, a meeting will take place tomorrow between the Uruguayan entrepreneurs and a relevant group of Portuguese entrepreneurs with business interests in Uruguay or who see in Uruguay a potential trading or investment destination.

I have little doubt that in such differing sectors as tourism, bio-fuels and other renewable energies, building, timber industries or information technologies, there are many business opportunities which should urgently be taken up.

Mister President,

Current international relationships are not strictly limited bilaterally. Regional integration is nowadays a reality which is in everyone’s interest to encourage and develop. Much of our social and economic development depends upon it.

At a time when Portugal is President of the Council of the European Union and Uruguay is the pro tempore President of Mercosur, this visit should be used to strengthen the links between our two regional blocks.

Portugal has, for a long time, defended the approximation between the European Union and Mercosur. I cannot but recall the first Ministerial Meeting between the two Organizations that took place in 1992, in Guimarães, during the first Portuguese Presidency.

It now matters little to discuss the reasons which have hindered a greater strengthening in this relationship. What really matters is to stress the interest and the will of the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union and the Uruguayan Presidency of MERCOSUR to take firm steps along that path, given the support of the European Commission.

The approximation between our two regional blocks could well take place simultaneously, with the desired strengthening of economic relations in other multilateral fora. These are not, in any way, incompatible. On the contrary, they can be concomitant and mutually advantageous. It is thus our role to find ways and means to bring about the approach between the 1st and the 4th world economic areas, encompassing more than seven hundred million people.

Mister President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

There are multiple opportunities available for the strengthening of the relations between Portugal and Uruguay, between the European Union and MERCOSUR. I sincerely believe that we can be optimists as to the future.

I ask you all to join me in a toast to the health of President Tabaré Vázquez and Madam Maria Auxiliadora Vázquez, to the prosperity of the friendly People of Uruguay and to the future of the relations between our two Countries and that of the European Union and MERCOSUR.