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

I want to thank President Barack Obama for having accepted my invitation to hold this Working Meeting, within the programme of his first visit to Portugal. Portugal receives President Obama with friendship and gratification.

The meeting that we have just held and the working luncheon that followed allowed a fruitful exchange of points of view and demonstrated the excellent political relationship that exists between Portugal and the United States of America. A solid relationship, based upon a strong identity of opinions and on a sharing of values and principles.

The proximity that is a characteristic of our relationship owes much to the role of the Portuguese and Luso-Descendant Community in the United States. A Community that, not forgetting its roots, shows an extraordinary attachment to its welcoming country. A Community to which are linked a growing number of prime figures in North American Federal and State politics.

Our cooperation with the United States is more than ever widened and diversified. However, the existing potential is still vast. In this sense, the common interest in strengthening dialogue and cooperation, based upon the Defence and Cooperation Agreement, signed in 1995, and that continues in perpetuity with the institutional framework of our relationship, was clearly reasserted.

In the field of economic relations, we recorded the recent growth in trade exchange, as well as the increase of Portuguese investment in the United States. However, the volume of our exports to the United States is still very far from what would be justified by the quality of our products and by the size of the North American market. Equally, the volume of American investments in Portugal is not in line with what could be legitimately expected.

I also had the opportunity to approach with President Barack Obama, the current economic and financial status of our two countries on a global level. I am pleased to record the statements that reach us from the North American authorities as to the confidence on the capability of the Portuguese to overcome the challenges that our country is facing.

Our meeting equally allowed a reflection on the agenda for the NATO Summit meeting. Portugal, a founder member of the Alliance and an Atlantic nation, has always fought on behalf of the strengthening of transatlantic bonds. Portugal and the United States want an invigorated Alliance capable to effectively answer the challenges and threats that, these days, are faced by transatlantic security. It is this objective of widened reform that will be discussed and, we hope, approved in the Lisbon Summit.

Finally, having in mind Portugal’s recent election to the Security Council, we were agreed as to the need for a more intense political dialogue concerning the issues in the agenda of the United Nations.

I want, once again, to thank President Barack Obama for his availability to hold this visit and hope that he feels in Portugal as if he were at home.

Thank you very much