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

Mister President of Iceland, Excellency,
Mister Speaker,
Madam Assistant Secretary General of the Council of Europe,
Madam President of the Executive Committee of the North-South Centre,
Honourable Laureates,
Members of Parliament,
Ambassadors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with renewed satisfaction that I associate myself to the award ceremony of the North-South Prize, a symbol of the values of peace, democracy and respect for Human Rights entered into the founding articles of the North-South Centre and of the Council of Europe.

The examples which are shown us by the individualities that have been awarded prizes throughout the last fifteen years are the best contribution for the dissemination and promotion of such values.

Today’s ceremony has a very particular symbolism since it is taking place in the year when we are commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the North-South Centre, an institution set up in 1989, following a proposal I had the honour to submit, when Prime Minister, to the Council of Europe, in answer to the particularly felt need of a more structured approach to the dialogue between the North and the South.

The urgency of this objective which, since its very beginning, was the fulcrum of the activity of the North-South Centre is, today, more than ever obvious. This was recognized very recently by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, in the meeting he held last week with cultural agents, on the occasion of His Visit to Portugal, when, alluding to the North-South Centre – the sole international body to which he made an express reference – he called it “the corner stone of intercultural dialogue”.

I thus wish to take advantage of this occasion to pay a sincere tribute to all those who, throughout the last twenty years, gave and continue giving the best of themselves on behalf of the deepening of the intercultural dialogue and to the removal of barriers to the approach and to the knowledge between North and South, thus contributing towards the construction of a more stable, more peaceful and more equitable world.

Portugal is greatly honoured to have welcomed, since the beginning, the headquarters of the North-South Centre, as a sign of our country’s attachment to the ideals of the Council of Europe, as well as to the universality and to the tradition of being open to dialogue that qualify our relations with other peoples and cultures.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year we are paying tribute to two individualities due to their singular contribution towards the promotion of the ideals of freedom, democracy and respect for human dignity – Mrs. Rola Dashti and Mister Mickail Gorbatchev.

Rola Dashti is recognized as a Kuwaiti politician and activist, and is one of the most influent women in the entire Arab world. Since very early on she was deeply involved in numerous humanitarian causes and volunteering activities, showing a profound conscience of social justice and a refined sense of solidarity.

Her militancy in favour of democratic reform and in the strengthening of Woman’s role in public life led her to fight, during several years, on behalf of the extension of the right to vote to Kuwaiti women. Precisely one year ago, in May 2009, Rola Dashti was one of the first four women to be elected to her country’s Parliament. She currently presides to the “Kuwaiti Economic Society”, and is the first woman to be elected to this office.

The example of Mrs. Rola Dashti is a source of inspiration to all those who fight on behalf of fairer societies, in which all citizens may enjoy the same rights, freedoms and opportunities.

The second laureate, Mikhail Gorbatchev, was unable to be with us here today. I want to address him, through Ambassador Alexander Alekseev, who will receive the Prize in his name, my most friendly wishes for a quick recovery.

The award of the North-South Prize to Mikhail Gorbatchev, precisely when the North-South Centre celebrates its 20th anniversary, brings to memory the extraordinary events of the end of last century’s eighties decade which stamped the beginning of a new historic era.

The award of the North-South Prize to Mikhail Gorbatchev is a tribute we pay to a statesman whose courage and determination opened the way to the end of the so called “Cold War”, and to the re-conquest of freedom and democracy for millions of people in several States, starting with Russia itself.

Under the impulse of the reforms begun by Mikhail Gorbatchev in the former Soviet Union, Europe and the world endured very deep changes.

The logic of confrontation and antagonism between East and West was replaced by the logic of cooperation and compromise.

The arms race gave way to an unprecedented disarmament process, very recently renewed, and which remains as a priority in the promotion of the safer, stabler and more developed world which we aim to build.

Mikhail Gorbatchev has equally distinguished himself in the leadership of several bodies that promote international cooperation, amongst which I would single out the Gorbatchev Foundation, dedicated to the investigation of social, economic and political issues, and the “International Green Cross”, an institution dedicated to the treatment of urgent ecological issues and for the prevention of conflicts deriving from environmental degradation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The round table which preceded this ceremony approached the challenges which are faced by the future of the North-South dialogue, calling on us all to the task of turning the XXI century into the century of worldwide independence and solidarity.

This objective demands that we are able to deepen dialogue between peoples and cultures, by building an international system that places, more than ever, the respect for Human Rights, and the promotion of peace and prosperity of all the peoples of the world in the centre of our activities.

This year’s two laureates are, in this perspective, an inspiring moral strength, which the Prize they were awarded very justly recognizes.