The president of the Assembly of the Republic (AR), Augusto Santos Silva, assured today that there is no relationship problem between Portugal and Qatar, and stressed that all Portuguese residents in that Asian country “can rest easy.”
“My responsibilities today are no longer to conduct foreign policy, but I can reassure everyone. There is no problem in the relationship between Portugal and Qatar, who have an intense diplomatic relationship. Qatar is one of the Gulf states where we have an ambassador resident and it is a strategic region for us”, said the second figure of the Portuguese State.
Augusto Santos Silva, who was speaking to journalists in Doha, on the sidelines of a meeting with the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, Fernando Gomes, guaranteed that the safety of the Portuguese residents in Qatar is not at stake, despite the Criticisms expressed by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Prime Minister, António Costa, regarding human rights violations by Qatar.
“The Portuguese who reside here can rest easy, because if something characterizes Portuguese foreign policy it is the foreign action of all sovereign bodies, it is always prioritizing the well-being, interest, security and tranquility of all.” the Portuguese who live in almost all parts of the world”, said the president of AR.
Augusto Santos Silva recalled “the unsurpassed support” that the Qatari authorities provided to Portugal on the occasion of the death of the former Portuguese ambassador to the country Ricardo Pracana, in 2020, but not only.
“When we had to get dozens and dozens of people out of Afghanistan, specifically Afghans who had collaborated with the Portuguese Armed Forces, in a very difficult operation, we succeeded, because we had the support of Pakistan, by land, and Qatar. , on the air route. These things are not forgotten. Just as the position that Qatar has had in the United Nations General Assembly in condemning the war in Ukraine, and the geopolitical and geoeconomic importance that this region has in the world is not forgotten, ”he stressed.
The president of the AR said that on the agenda of the meetings that he will hold with the Qatari authorities “there are all the matters that are of interest to Portugal or to Qatar”, and he affirmed that all the countries “have to make a lot of progress in the matter of human rights”.
“We all have to go a long way in terms of human rights, in relations and mutual understanding. We have to move forward, consolidating the areas in which we are strong and improving the areas in which we are not strong, and this applies. to all countries, including Portugal”, he concluded.
Source: TSF
