The President of the Republic and Mrs. Cavaco Silva will carry out a State Visit to Turkey, between 12 and 15 May, at the invitation of President Abdullah Gül, visiting Ankara first and following this with visits to Istanbul and Cappadocia.

Travelling with the President of the Republic will be several members of the Government, such as the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, as well as members of the political parties represented in Parliament.

The presidential retinue will also include approximately thirty entrepreneurs, who will take part in the economic events which are part of the programme, amongst which a “Portugal-Turkey Entrepreneurial Encounter”, in Ankara, promoted by AICEP and by the Turkish Union of Entrepreneurial Chambers (TOBB), and a Portugal-Turkey Economic Seminar, in Istanbul, promoted by AICEP and by the Turkish Agency for External Economic Relations (DEIK), and will equally contact their Turkish counterparts, aiming to strengthen trading and investment relations between the two countries.

The Visit will commence with ceremony paying tribute to the Ataturk Mausoleum, in Ankara. In addition to the joint programme with the Turkish Head of State, which will include a dinner in his honour and that of Mrs. Cavaco Silva, the President of the Republic will hold meetings, in the Turkish capital, with Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and with the leader of the major Opposition Party.

At the request of the Turkish Authorities, the President of the Republic will deliver a speech in the Grand Chamber of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

In Istanbul, the President of the Republic will officially open, together with the President of the Republic of Turkey, the exhibition “Lisbon, memories of another city”, a joint initiative of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and of the Sabanci Foundation, which pictures XIX Century Lisbon, based on works made available by several national cultural institutions.

On that same day, the President of the Republic and Mrs. Cavaco Silva will host a dinner in the honour of the President of Turkey and Mrs. Abdullah Gül, featuring a fado concert.

Still in Istanbul, the President of the Republic will preside at the Closing Session of the “Portugal-Turkey Economic Seminar”, and will deliver a Lecture in Bosporus University on the theme “Portugal’s adhesion to the European Union: an experience”.

The official component of the visit to Cappadocia will include a meeting with the Governor of the Province of Nevsehir, who will host a luncheon in the honour of the President of the Republic and Mrs. Cavaco Silva.