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

I express my thanks to the Jorge Álvares Foundation, to the Oriente Institution, to Lisbon Technical University and to the Geographic Society, to all of whom we owe the organization of the ceremonies which celebrate, today, the 10th anniversary of the transfer of the Portuguese Administration of Macau to the Chinese Peoples’ Republic.

I equally congratulate all the remaining individualities and institutions who wished to join in the support given to this important initiative.

An initiative to which I gave the High Patronage of the Presidency of the Republic, recognizing the historic dimension of a transition process the success of which exalted the name of our Country.

On December 20, 1999, Portugal terminated with dignity, at peace with itself and with its History, the imperial cycle which had lasted longer than half its age as a Nation of many centuries. We are all aware of the importance that this is how it should have been, so that we could reconcile ourselves to a period which had left us with such traumas.

The Portuguese Administration left the Territory justifiably proud of a notable legacy, based upon a capable and respected administrative organization and on a solid and wide reaching legislative body, in accordance with the guarantees that had been promised to the people of Macau and with the expectations which had been created for them.

A legacy which included, as well, a set of infrastructures which allowed the Territory to look to the future with confidence.

All of this had been based upon a strategic vision which had recognized Macau’s potential as a privileged platform within the framework of the opening to the world that China had initiated and as a factor of approximation between Portugal and China.

The materialization of this last objective – Macau to become a factor of approximation between Portugal and China – was owed not just to how the Portuguese presence in Macau had been asserted, but also to the climate of respect and friendship which characterized the negotiations, a result of the intentions shared by both States, that the solutions found should ensure the best possible future for the Territory and its people.

And thus, as a very rare and exemplary instance, two countries, Portugal and Chine, called upon to resolve a complex and delicate bilateral issue, of great sensitivity to both, concluded it with a greater affinity between them than had been the case when it was started.

A proximity which was reflected in an ever deeper relationship, as witnessed by the establishment, in 2005, of a Strategic Partnership between both countries.

I wish, in this respect, to very specially welcome the presence amongst us of Ambassador Gao Kexiang and the friendly words he addressed us, begging him to transmit to his Authorities and particularly to President Hu Jintao, my personal endeavour in the continued strengthening of the relations between our two countries and their peoples.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Circumstances warranted that it was a Government presided by me that initiated the negotiations which gave ground to the Macau Joint Declaration. This I subscribed, on behalf of my country, on 13 April 1987, in Beijing, on the occasion of the very first Official Visit of a Portuguese Head of State to the People’s Republic of China.

These were unforgettable occasions. I well recall having emphasized, in the speech I then addressed, that there are times when we are conscious that a page in History is being written. And this is precisely what happened.

I continue believing, however, that the best way to be equal to what we knew how to build in the past is to project it into the future.

In the Address I made to the Country, in March 1987, I called the attention of the Portuguese to the fact that the Agreement we had reached represented “a great asset of hope”, which as such opened up perspectives “for our relationship with the East and, particularly, with China”.

The specific characteristics of the Macau territory, which distinguish it from the immense China to which it belongs, are a result of the centuries’ old Portuguese presence. Such characteristics provide it with a natural leaning to operate as a platform of relationship of China with official Portuguese speaking countries.

China is well aware of this added value in Macau and has invested, decisively and intelligently, in its valuation as a tool for the strengthening of its bonds with the member States of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries.

I have just recently received the information, which may be surprising to many, that among the foreign language courses taught in China, Portuguese is the only one which guarantees immediate employment to whoever completes it.

On the other hand, as I had the opportunity to recall in a speech, delivered in 1987, in the Macau Commercial Association, “Portugal has everything to gain in taking advantage of Macau and of its economic and trading dynamism to further the re-launching of the Portuguese presence in the East.

A re-launching which becomes more than ever urgent, considering the role that Asia, in general, and China, in particular, are and will growingly be called upon to accomplish in the international stage. A role which the financial and economic crisis which rocked the world, the effects of which we are still suffering, has forcibly emphasized.

I do not believe that any doubts still subsist as to the much that still has to be accomplished for us to speak of a re-launching of the Portuguese presence in the East, taking advantage of what is offered by Macau.

This implies investing in our economic presence in the Region, including the setting up, in its territory, of companies which use it as a lever for being projected into other markets, specifically in China.

It equally implies investing in strengthening our cultural presence, immediately by way of a determined support to the institutions which promote the teaching of our language and the dissemination of our culture..

But also in the promotion of the interchange between academic, cultural, sports and research institutions.

And as well in stimulating tourist flows and in encouraging the constitution of communication networks between the respective peoples.

Portugal will be present in the Shanghai Universal Exhibition, in 2010, and, in the following year, the Year of Portugal in China will be celebrated. These are two excellent opportunities to assert the re-launching of our presence in the East, which our strategic interests so strongly recommend.

Ladies and Gentlemen,,

In April 1994, before the Macau Legislative Assembly, I recalled that the solution we had found for Macau comprised a double scope: on the one hand, we had endeavoured to guarantee the stability of Macau, its economic and social progress and its people’s confidence in the future; on the other, we had wanted to face a new perspective for the development of the relations between Portugal and the Chinese People’s Republic.

Ten years after 20 December 1999, I believe that circumstances have demonstrated the validity of these guiding lines. Macau’s economic dynamism and social progress are recognized by all, and are the result of a climate of confidence in the future that owes much to the conditions that the process of transition allowed to create.

And our relationship with China shows, in these days, a much greater proximity than that which was apparent before the transition.

We thus have good reasons to celebrate.

Many will keep, such as I do, a living memory of that cold and sunny day when, in a moving gesture, Governor Vasco Rocha Vieira pressed to his heart the greatest symbol of a Nation reconciled with its History and proud of its accomplishments. On that day, on that moment, he was part of all of us, as brothers in the dignity of his gesture.

We owe that moment to Macau. That we shall never forget.

Thank you very much.