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We are rendering tribute today to individualities who became distinguished in their professional lives and who provided relevant services to the Country.

Prof. Doctor Luis Valente de Oliveira has a notable career in public service that was, in full fairness, already recognized on several occasions.

Upon being decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Public Education and days after his being awarded an Honoris Causa Doctorate by the University of Trás- os-Montes, I want to stress Professor Valente de Oliveira’s role as an academician in the University of Porto, but equally how, in his political life, he battled to hold good what he taught as a professor.

I will also attribute the insignia of Grand Officer of the Order of Public Education to two individualities that became distinguished in the field of education and its connection with medical practice: Professor António Coimbra de Matos and Doctor Isabel Cottinelli Telmo.

Professor António Coimbra de Matos, who, for health reasons, was unable to attend the celebrations of the last National Day of Portugal, receives this distinction for his activity in the fields of psychopathology, psychosomatics and psychoanalysis and for his work and dedication to psychiatry.

Doctor Isabel Cottinelli Telmo is currently President of the Portuguese Autism Federation and Vice-President of Autism Europe. She has assumed, for many years, a leading role in sensitizing decision takers and educators as to the needs connected with the Autism Spectrum Disorders. She has been fully and firmly committed to this very specific field of learning and in the defence of the dignity of handicapped persons.

I shall also decorate, with the rank of Grand Officer of Entrepreneurial Merit, Class of Agricultural Merit, Prof. Doctor Antero Lopes Martins, who became distinguished, throughout his career, not just for his academic activities in the Higher Institute of Agronomy, but also for his contribution as a winegrower, towards the improvement and the revitalizing of the national native vine varieties.

Mister Mayor of Guimarães,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

For the first time in my mandates as President of the Republic I shall today attribute the title of Honorary Member to a Portuguese city.

The City of Guimarães is known as the cradle of our nationality. It celebrated this week, on 24 June, the anniversary of the Battle of S. Mamede, a determining feature for the independence of our Country.

In the last years Guimarães has stood out due to its powerful cultural features, with diversified programmes both in the artistic and in the scientific areas, simultaneously with its dynamic entrepreneurial centre.

I specifically stress the work carried out in the recovery and refurbishment of its historic centre, which was listed as World Heritage by UNESCO in 2001, as well as the enormous success obtained as European Capital of Culture in 2012

Guimarães is nowadays a prominent cultural centre in the North of Portugal.

Selected in 2013 as European Sports City, Guimarães is also distinguished, in the scientific field, by the installation of AvePark – Science and Technology Facility – a nucleus of research and development that brings together the City Council with Minho University and with several entrepreneurial associations, and where, for instance, the headquarters of the European Institute of Tissue Regenerative Medicine are located.

For all these reasons, but also due to the very special contribution to our national identity and to Portuguese culture, and as a recognition for the dedication of the People of Guimarães to their City and to our Country, I decided to award the City of Guimarães the title of Honorary Member of the Order of Sant’Iago da Espada.

Guimarães is the first Portuguese city to be distinguished with the Military Order of Sant’Iago da Espada.