Welcome to the page of the State Visit to East Timor

I begin by thanking Your Excellency for your invitation and for the amiable words you have seen fit to address me.

Both my Wife and I are extremely pleased with this State Visit to East Timor, this young country with which we are linked by so many and so deep human, cultural and historic bonds and that has welcomed us with such warm and moving hospitality.

I cannot but refer that this Visit has a very special significance, being held precisely at the time when the 10th anniversary of the Independence of East Timor is being commemorated. It is a great honour and also a great pleasure to be able to participate, this closely, with this national celebration.

The Timorese cause was felt by the Portuguese as if it were its own, in a historic mustering that, in itself, also helped destroying the “siege” of the “wall of silence”, as so aptly said by Sophia de Mello Breyner.

Allow me to underline, in this context, Your Excellency’s example, so intimately associated to the conflict and the uprising of the Timorese People. In crucial moments you assumed the role of a true leader, with a discerning vision and a clear sense for the Nations supreme interests, and gave a fundamental contribution to the path leading to independence and to the consolidation of the democratic Rule of Law in East Timor.

It is for this reason that I am doubly pleased by holding this Visit, the first that Your Excellency receives from a Head of State since assuming the highest office in the East Timor People’s Republic.

The last Timorese presidential election was, anyway, a relevant example of democracy and reconciliation. I want to congratulate the Timorese People for this further proof of civic maturity, and attachment to the values of freedom and to the democratic Rule of Law.

Mister President,

I want to congratulate you on your election, which is a further unmistakable sign of hope. The objective that you immediately assumed, to transform the country into a modern, prosperous and stable State, could not be any nearer than what Portugal, as well as the remaining members of CPLP, wish for this sister country.

The stability of East Timor and all the successes achieved in these last ten years lead us to ambitiously face the challenges of the future, including in this perspective the strengthening of our Community.

In this context, Portugal supports the intention of East Timor to assume the Presidency of CPLP in 2014, a development that I believe could project CPLP in Asia, pursuing an effort of internationalization of the Portuguese language.

Your Excellency may count upon my personal drive in the deepening of our cooperation, both bilaterally as within the area of CPLP, European Union and the United Nations.

Portugal is proud of the close liaison it has maintained with East Timor, both before and after Independence. The multiple and comprehensive cooperation we have developed shows the excellence of our bilateral relations. We are equally proud of the fact that this cooperation has found particular expression in capacitating the Timorese State and in the assertion of the Portuguese language, symbol of the Timorese strife and identity, but also a powerful tool of international assertion.

Economic development and training of human resources are areas to which Portugal and East Timor also attribute top priority. We have the pleasure to have with us here today, included in my retinue, representatives of some of the Portuguese companies that are pioneers in foreign investment in Timor. It is necessary that others follow their example. I hope that this visit of mine, Mister President, accentuates the strengthening of our economic and entrepreneurial relationship.

Mister President,

I want to assure that Your Excellency and the Timorese People will always find in Portugal a friend and an ally driven to contribute towards the progress of East Timor. The friendship that links us so closely, the sharing and cooperation achieved throughout the years and the perspectives that are knowingly being opened to the continued progress of East Timor allow me to have great confidence in the future of the relationship between our two countries.

It is on behalf of this future that I ask you all, on this National Day of the East Timor People’s Republic, to join me in my best wishes for the health of President Taur Matan Ruak and his Wife, to the growing prosperity of the Timorese People and to the continued strengthening of the fraternal and friendly relations between Portugal and East Timor.