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

I start by congratulating the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and COTEC for the joint organization of this “FAZ – Innovatory Entrepreneurialism in the Portuguese Diaspora” Encounter, in which I am very pleased to participate.

The confluence of the Prizes for Innovatory Entrepreneurialism and Portuguese Original Ideas is an example of institutional cooperation comprising common objectives and intelligent sharing of resources that deserves my fullest applause.

I am very pleased to greet all the nominees and to warmly welcome those that travelled from around the World to join us here today.

Spoken Portuguese and the Sea, taken jointly with our Diaspora comprise the fundamental identifying nucleus of the presence of Portugal in the World.

The Portuguese who live and work abroad are the apex of the collective effort in the valuing of the cultural, linguistic and economic assets that are our features and that distinguish us from other peoples.

A more adept and proactive relation of proximity with the communities abroad is a decisive factor for our international assertion. This is why I have insisted on the need to improve the means with which we view and relate with the Portuguese communities in the Diaspora. Casual rhetoric will have to give way to a new relationship rationale and to material actions that allow proximity that yields effective results.

It is essential that the Country values and benefits from the potential arising out of the Diaspora, without forgetting that its involvement results from common volition and from a mustering of individual energies and capabilities.

I have a made a point of supporting all initiatives guided towards the strengthening of links between the Portuguese Communities and the Country, as was the case, at the end of last year, with the Council of the Portuguese Diaspora.

Portugal should now be viewed, in the 21st century, as a globalizing pioneering nation, which intends asserting its status of a people of the World opened up to the World.

This is a legitimate intent. Portugal will always be greater than its territory. We were, are now and shall always be, a nation dispersed over the whole planet. This is the calling we must globally assume.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are paying tribute, on this occasion, to the enterprising spirit of the Portuguese. And, very specially, to those who have found a well deserved success in their welcoming societies, as a result of their notable professional and citizenship status.

The Innovatory Entrepreneurialism Prize, this year in its 6th edition, was set up following a call towards a new national perspective on a little known and valued reality.

The initiative has been growing successively and exceeding expectations. It generated its own community, in which were woven common affinities and interests and distances shortened.

In its current edition it is worth while to underline the participation, for the first time, of candidates from India, Malaysia, Check Republic and Venezuela. With a consecrated status, this Prize took on a dynamism that is clearly deserving of our enthusiasm and redoubled support.

In its turn, the initiative Portuguese Original Ideas aims to promote cooperation between those who are abroad and who want to carry out their ideas in Portugal. Ideas that relate with new and more efficient and ingenious solutions concerning entrepreneurialism and social intervention, and whose materialization deserves being encouraged.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Portugal is going through a highly challenging period. A difficult experience which is also an apprenticeship to achieve adaptation to a reality with novel demands.

The Portuguese had the need to search for energy reserves they believed inexistent.

The context of stressed rigour required significant changes in our lives.

In the face of risk and uncertainty, we have to be capable to dare overcome the obstacles that limit us, to find new solutions, to exploit new resources.

The tendency to maintain the status quo, to avoid change at any cost as well as the reserve with which new ideas are considered, are on their own, the greatest risk we run.

The Portuguese have a potential that is still intact and that is awaiting to be fully used.

The example and the contribution of the Diaspora Portuguese – your example and your contribution – assume a role of major importance as a mustering reference and as an energy driver.

We are all called upon to take part in Portugal’s contemporary adventure. Each one must bear a share of the collective effort demanded from the Country.

We are all required to recreate an environment of confidence and the will to conquer.

All of us, without exception, are required to tread the paths that lead to a sustainable economic growth that generates employment and to a fairer and more cohesive future.

I congratulate Mapril Baptista, from France, and Teresa Lundahl, from Sweden, respectively the winner and the receiver of an honourable mention of the Prize for Innovatory Entrepreneurialism. I also congratulate Orchestra XXI, the winning team of the Portuguese Original Ideas Prize, as well as all the remaining rewarded parties.

I very warmly thank you for your presence. I am certain this is a sign of your drive and of your confidence in the future of our Country. In this spirit I wish you all the greatest of professional and personal success.

Thank you very much.