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

My first words are to express my thanks to our host. Mister President Armando Guebuza, I want to reiterate my most sincere votes of success for the Presidency you have just been called upon to assume and to address my congratulations for the professionalism and rigour in the organization of this IX Conference of Heads of State and of Government. Not forgetting, of course, the warmth and fraternal hospitality which has welcomed us in this beautiful city of Maputo.

I also want to address a word of thanks to Angola for the work performed in the exercise, during the last two years, of the Angolan Presidency of CPLP and, particularly, the role of President José Eduardo dos Santos.

Currently – as we are well aware – we are fronting new and global challenges. In the face of this reality, that musters and drives us, the Portuguese language is a true strategic asset to oppose the challenges the world is placing upon us.

Nowadays, more than ever, I believe in the value and in the potential of CPLP. Looking back on the path we have treaded together in these last 16 years, I cannot but feel deeply proud of what we have been able to achieve.

The stake in CPLP is an investment in the future, with many possibilities still to be exploited, but with evidence shown that it can be achieved with success.

I am gratified that Portugal belongs in such an organization, comprising members from four continents. In spite of the physical distance, the proximity and the intensity of cooperation, the joint work and the mutual support have been successfully shown as being at the level of political and diplomatic concert and of the deepening of the economic and cultural cooperation amongst our Countries.

It is up to us to pursue a concerted number of policies that allow greater proximity amongst our economies, which further encourages entrepreneurial contacts, for the benefit of the economic and social development of our Nations.

And, if the geographic dispersal that is one of our features never constituted a frontier for the Portuguese language, also never, as today, was it so easy to defy distance.

Our Countries, as Members of CPLP, have an increased international responsibility in the defence and disclosure of the principles that rule our Community: Peace, democratic Rule of Law, Human Rights, and economic and social development.

It was by acting within this framework and in absolute concord that we were able to provide help to our sister Country, Guinea Bissau, placing on the international agenda of our main bilateral partners, of the African Union, of the European Union and of the United Nations Security Council, the pressing need to condemn the military coup of 12 April.

I wish to express my most sincere solidarity with our brothers the People f Guinea.

Let us have no doubts: our union and coherence within CPLP, has resulted in each of our countries becoming stronger, both regionally and internationally. The strength of our Community is thus reflected in each Member State and is at the same time, on its own, a credible and active strength.

I also want to emphasize the example that has been provided by East Timor. The success of the consolidation process of the Timorese State, which this year alone went through – with civic responsibility and great political maturity – two electoral processes, brings prestige to CPLP and is an example to the World. I want to congratulate His Excellency President Taur Matan Ruak on his commitment to accept the challenge to preside at our Community as from 2014.

Our common language performs a basic role in CPLP’s international projection. More than 240 million people speak in Portuguese and many other millions study it as a foreign language, making it one of the idioms with greater expansion in the whole World.

Investment in education in the Portuguese language must be unequivocal as a fundamental priority for our countries. But learning Portuguese as a foreign language must equally be a firm and sustained investment.

Portuguese can nowadays legitimately demand its recognition as a universal language, with the consequent economic and social opportunities. But there still are well known constraints, such as human and material resources. We must be equal to the challenge and implement the measures foreseen in the Brasilia Action Plan.

My Dear Friends,
I want to salute the initiative to include in the agenda for this IX Conference the issue of Food and Nutritional Safety in CPLP.

Considering that one of the objectives of the Millennium consists in reducing to half extreme poverty and hunger, and since the issue of food safety is a global concern and a transversal topic, the reinforcement of coordination amongst our Countries in this matter reveals the mature consciousness of our Community.

Food Safety is nowadays a fundamental right, which must be understood and protected with determination, knowledge and rigour. It is not just the question of facing the challenge of poverty, in its multiple dimensions, but also to fight for superior qualitative conditions for global human development.

When subjecting the IX CPLP Summit to the topic of food and nutritional safety, we are assuming, at the highest level, a commitment with a global cause, in a collective and concentrated effort. I feel gratified with this attitude of our Community.

Please allow me now, to hand over to the Portuguese Prime Minister, who will develop the Portuguese position.