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

Both my Wife and I are very pleased to welcome President Ricardo Martinelli, Mrs. Marta Linares de Martinelli, and the retinue that accompanies them on this State Visit to Portugal. I well recall, in 2009, in Lisbon, President Martinelli’s momentous participation in the XIX Iberian American Summit of Heads of State and of Government.

I compliment Panama, who will preside this year at the Iberian American Community and that, next October, will welcome the XXIII Summit of Heads of State and of Government of that organization.

I am convinced that the Panama Summit will be the decisive marker of the reform of the Iberian American Conference, in which both our States are greatly interested. I believe that a country such as Your Excellency’s, which is going through a very dynamic period and with justified hope in the future, will be an excellent host for the recasting of an Iberian American Conference rightly guided towards new challenges and ambitions.

Mister President,

Portugal and Panama are good friends as countries and have enjoyed a sound relationship for many years. I want, on this occasion, to emphasize the convergence that exists amongst us due to the fact that both our countries are oriented towards the Sea. Our geographic situation leads us to assume responsibilities whilst connecting links between oceans and continents, between peoples and cultures.

Panama has a unique geographic location, and is a factual bridge between the Pacific and the Atlantic. The geo-strategic importance of the Panama Canal, which is concomitant with a sophisticated logistics platform, results in Your Excellency’s country, Mister President, being an unavoidable reference in the contemporary international stage and particularly in worldwide trade.

Panama is one of the most open economies in the whole world, with legislation that is favourable to the presence of foreign corporations, within a framework of a stable and mature democracy.

Portugal, in its turn, is equally a consolidated democracy, a country with a modern and open economy, with excellent infrastructures and a highly qualified human capital. In addition, it has been for many decades a member State of the European Union. Due to its geographic situation, to its attitude towards the world, Portugal is a privileged spot to access both Europe and Africa.

This is, as we know, a time of great challenges at national and European level. Portugal has been carrying out an important effort in macroeconomic and financial adjustment and will comply with all its internationally assumed commitments. We have also carried out an ambitious and demanding number of structural reforms in order to increase flexibility and the competitive capability of our economy.

In this context, I was greatly pleased in recording Your Excellency’s interest in becoming acquainted with our Country’s entrepreneurial reality and your availability to show the Panamanian reality to the economic agents that met in Lisbon this afternoon, under the auspices of the Embassy of Panama and of AICEP.

I believe that both Portugal and Panama can greatly benefit from a better dialogue and from strengthened cooperation in the several areas in which we have converging interests.

The completion of the enlargement work in the Panama Canal will allow reinforcing Panama’s centralism, but also that of Portugal, in particular that of the port of Sines, in the routes of international trade. The strengthening of our bilateral cooperation is also, for this reason, an opportunity and a responsibility we must assume and materialize in actions of common interest. It is time that we left words behind and got round to material undertakings.

Mister President,

Portuguese entrepreneurs, many of them with experience and a consolidated presence in Latin America, regard with interest the perspectives offered by Panama. I have no doubts that in such differing sectors as construction and public works, drainage and water distribution, energy, tourism, transport, port services or new information and communication technologies, a wide field of opportunities now exists for business, cooperation and partnership.

Mister President,

International relations are not limited, in our times, as being strictly bilateral. Regional integration is nowadays a reality that is in everyone’s interest to promote and develop. From these depend, indeed greatly depend, our models of social and economic development.

In this perspective, I cannot but refer how pleased I am for the completion of the European Union / Central America Association Agreement, recalling that, together with Spain, Portugal was the Member State that most avidly defended the launching of the negotiations, an unmistakable signal of its drive in developing the economic and trade relations between both regions.

Mister President,

Your Excellency’s visit to Portugal will thus constitute, I am certain, an important marker in our relationship, mainly due to the new means of bilateral cooperation which it will allow to be opened up. It is with this firm conviction that I ask you all to join me in a toast to the health and prosperity of President Ricardo Martinelli and Mrs. Marta Linares de Martinelli and to the friendly People of Panama, as well as to the friendliness between both our countries.