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

Mister President, Excellency,
Honourable Authorities,
Illustrious Guests,

For both me and my Wife it is particularly pleasing to welcome Your Excellency, Mister President, and Mrs Maria da Luz Guebuza, as well as the notable retinue accompanying you on this State Visit to Portugal.

My Wife and I recall with great pleasure our Visit to Mozambique in March 2008, and the hospitality with which we were received. A Visit to a country we are linked with known bonds of special affection and where we have so many good friends. A Visit which opened a path towards the strengthening of our relations, with the expressive results which we are all witnessing today.

Mister President,

The choice of Portugal to carry out the first Visit in Your Excellency’s second mandate, which greatly honours us, is the best expression of the bonds that link these two countries.

Our peoples are well acquainted, we share the same language and have a common historic and cultural heritage. Peoples who have known how to take advantage of the positive bequests of that heritage and who have proved their capability to resolve the more difficult issues, as witnessed by the solution found for the Cahora Bassa Electric Power Facility.

Contributing daily towards the reinforcement of this proximity is the intense interchange between our peoples, covering the most varied areas, from arts to education, to politics and business.

Mister President,

The frequency of the High Level visits between Portugal and Mozambique in the last few years, as well as the recent decision to carry out annual bilateral Summits, point towards a common determination to strengthen our strategic partnership.

Portugal follows closely what happens in Mozambique and enjoys the progress that the country is achieving.

A little more than two years ago, during my State Visit, I was able to verify the determination in following a reforming agenda, aiming towards the consolidation of the democratic institutions and for the improvement in Mozambique’s competitiveness and business environment. The results achieved reinforce our confidence in the future.

The respect for the principles of good governance and the progress in democratic consolidation, have provided Mozambique with an increased political influence. An influence which reflects itself in the protagonism it has been assuming in the promotion of peace and stability in the region and in the responsibilities of the offices attributed to several of its citizens, specifically within SADC and the African Union.

With regard to the economic and social areas, Mozambique has been achieving the main objectives of its development plan, particularly the reduction in poverty, the access to education and the qualification of its human resources.

Throughout the last decade its annual average economic growth has been in excess of 8 percent – one of the best in the African Continent – and the private sector is assuming itself, more than ever, as a booster to the economy.

Such developments, I am happy to say, are reflected in our relationship.

Portuguese investment in Mozambique has quadrupled in the last five years. In 2009 Portugal has achieved the second place among the biggest investors in the country and this in spite of the difficulties felt in the last two years.

In its turn, our bilateral cooperation currently covers decisive areas to conquer the challenges of competitiveness in a global world, such as education and training of human resources, as well as innovation, science, technology and alternative energies.

I am certain that the Agreements that will be signed during Your Excellency’s visit, as well as the contacts you will maintain here with Portuguese projects and entrepreneurs, specially within the scope of the Economic Seminar which will take place tomorrow, will contribute towards the promotion of new partnerships and will allow the taking of further steps in the strengthening of our cooperation.

I want to assure you, Mister President, that Mozambique will never lack Portugal’s solidarity and support, whether bilaterally or within the organizations in which we take part, in order to pursue its objectives of economic an social development.

Mister President,

The nature of the challenges which we are facing underlines the strategic value of the structures of international coordination which allow countries which feel close to each other to act in concert.

This is the case with CPLP, which we are endeavouring to strengthen and make more efficient, nearer to its peoples.

We are all responsible to promote a growing participation of the civil society in the life of our Community.

The Portuguese Presidency of CPLP has exerted its efforts, in particular, in the international projection and promotion of the Portuguese language. This is an objective we share and to which the recent Brasília Conference on the Future of the Portuguese Language has conferred a new impulse.

As a means of communication, the Portuguese language reflects the differing cultural codes and influences which characterize the peoples of our Community. It is this singular diversity which confers its greater strength and which makes it particularly well placed to assert itself as a global language of communication.

Mister President,

I want to thank you, once again, for having accepted my invitation to hold this State Visit, which I am certain will be a marker of the new stage in the strengthening of the fraternal bonds that link Portugal and Mozambique. Your Excellency can continue to count upon my strongest personal effort in this sense.

It is in this spirit that I ask you all to join me in a toast to the health and personal welfare of President Armando Emílio Guebuza and Mrs. Maria da Luz Guebuza, to the friendship between Portugal and Mozambique and to the growing prosperity of our fraternal Peoples.

Thank you very much.