The President of the Assembly of the Republic (AR), Augusto Santos Silva, assured on Monday that there are no problems in relations between Portugal and Qatar, and stressed that all Portuguese living in this Asian country “can be calm.”
“My duties this Monday no longer include foreign policy, but I can reassure everyone. There are no problems in relations between Portugal and Qatar that have tense diplomatic relations. The countries of the Persian Gulf, where we have a permanent ambassador, and a strategic region for us,” said the second representative of the Portuguese state.
Augusto Santos Silva, speaking to reporters in Doha on the sidelines of a meeting with Portuguese Football Federation President Fernando Gomes, assured that the safety of the people of Portugal in Qatar was not at stake, despite criticism from Republic President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the Prime Minister António Costa on human rights violations by Qatar.
“The Portuguese living here can rest easy, because if there is anything that characterizes the foreign policy of Portugal, it is the external actions of all sovereign bodies, they always give priority to the well-being, interests, security and tranquility of all the Portuguese who live almost in all parts of the world,” the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan said.
Augusto Santos Silva recalled the “unsurpassed support” that the Qatari authorities provided to Portugal in connection with the death of the former Portuguese ambassador to the country, Ricardo Prakana, in 2020, but not only.
“When we had to withdraw dozens and dozens of people from Afghanistan, namely Afghans who were collaborating with the Portuguese armed forces, in a very difficult operation, we managed to do it because we had the support of Pakistan on the land route, and Qatar on the air route. These things are not forgotten. Just as the position of Qatar in the UN General Assembly on condemning the war in Ukraine, and the geopolitical and geo-economic significance that this region has in the world, are not forgotten, ”he stressed.
The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan also said that the agenda of the meetings that he will hold with the Qatari authorities, “all issues of interest to both Portugal and Qatar”, and said that all countries “should make great progress in human rights issues.”
“We all need to make great progress in terms of human rights, relationships and mutual understanding. We must move forward by strengthening the areas where we are strong and improving the areas where we are weak, and this applies to all countries, including Portugal,” he concluded.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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