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

The President of the Republic was distinguished with the 2009 Mediterraneo Istituzioni Prize, awarded by the Mediterranean Foundation, headquartered in Italy.

Following is the communiqué with respect to the award of the Prize:

"The Mediterranean Foundation, an international organization with headquarters in Italy, has unanimously decided to award the 2009 Mediterraneo Istituzioni Prize to President of the Republic, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, “in recognition of his effort and endeavour in the reinforcement of solidarity and of an active cooperation between the Mediterranean countries, on behalf of development and of Peace in this region”.

In its communiqué, the Fondazione Mediterraneo stresses that the Mediterraneo Prize, which has paid tribute to individualities in the political, cultural, scientific and social world who have distinguished themselves for their actions on behalf of the Euro-Mediterranean countries was, in former years, awarded to King Hussein of Jordan, to King D. Juan Carlos of Spain, to King Hassan II of Morocco, to Queen Rania of Jordan, to the President of the French Republic, Nicholas Sarkozy, to the President of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov, to the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Erdogan, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria, Mohamed Bedjaoui, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Miguel Moratinos, and to the Nobel Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian, amongst other notable persons.

The Prize Award Ceremony will be held in the headquarters of the Fondazione Mediterraneo, in Naples, on 12 June next, at 15:15 hours, on the occasion of the President of the Republic’s visit to that city, where he will attend the annual Encounter of the European Heads of State known as the “Arraiolos Group”, for a discussion on European issues.”