PORTUGAL During the past week, I spent a few days in Portugal together with the Speaker of the Riksdag and three other parliamentary colleagues. One of the main purposes of the visit was to promote Swedish–Portuguese cooperation in the fields of security and defence.
After arriving in Lisbon late on Tuesday evening, we began with a briefing at the Swedish Embassy together with our excellent Ambassador, H.E. Ms Elisabeth Eklund. We then proceeded to the Portuguese Parliament, where a welcoming ceremony was held and where we met the President of the Portuguese Parliament, Mr José Pedro Aguiar-Branco.
The President of the Parliament then hosted a lunch, during which I had the opportunity to meet and speak with, among others, the Chairman of the Defence Committee, Mr Pedro Pessanha (Chega), the Chairman of Portugal’s NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation, Mr Hugo Patrício Oliveira (PSD), and the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Mr Marcos Perestrello (PS). We discussed defence-related issues as well as Portugal’s upcoming procurement of new fighter aircraft.
We then travelled to Belém Palace to meet the President of the Republic of Portugal, H.E. Mr Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The President normally does not receive Speakers of Parliament, but made an exception for ours. This perhaps says something about how highly Portugal values the relationship between our two countries.
Our Speakers then participated in a debate on democracy with students at the Auditorium of the House of Parliament – Interpretation Centre.
The evening concluded with a very pleasant reception at the Swedish Residence, hosted by the Ambassador. Representatives of Swedish companies and organisations active in Portugal were also invited, which led to several new acquaintances and many interesting and rewarding conversations.
Thursday morning began with a visit to NATO’s naval operations headquarters, STRIKFORNATO (Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO), where we received a thorough briefing on their work. This was followed by a visit to the Swedish School in Carcavelos, which has existed since 1957 and currently has 87 Swedish pupils across various age groups.
After meeting the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Carlos Abreu Amorim, the programme concluded with a lunch on the theme of security and defence together with Swedish and Portuguese representatives.
It was a very rewarding visit, which I hope will contribute to further strengthening our cooperation in the field of security and defence, not least within NATO and the EU. Naturally, I also hope that Portugal chooses the Swedish Gripen when procuring new fighter aircraft. Gripen is, in many respects, tailor-made to meet Portuguese needs from several different perspectives.
BJÖRN SÖDER
