Mr. President, I have great pleasure in warmly welcoming you to Portugal on the first working visit you are making to our country.

The centuries-old relations linking our two countries, represented by the magnificent architectural heritage that makes Malta one of the mythical places of Portuguese imagination, are now closer to adapting to history and to moulding the future.

Portuguese people, such as Grand Master Vilhena, who rests for ever in your beautiful cathedral, were able – under the historic circumstances of their times – to be of use to the land of Malta, and left there memories of their capabilities that have lasted to our days.

In fact, Malta’s accession to the European Union, always supported by Portugal with firmness and assurance, has brought our two countries closer together and opened new routes to bilateral co-operation. In this connection, I would call to mind the essential part that Your Excellency, then in the capacity of Prime Minister, played in bringing about Malta’s European option under conditions that were sometimes difficult. The battle was one of persistent personal determination and of exemplary political vision, dealt with with an unshakable conviction that appears to me to be worth underscoring at this moment so decisive to the future of the European Union.

As equal partners in the heart of the European Union, sharing the same values and ideas, today we benefit from a powerful incentive to rediscover and enhance our common ancestral history, increase our complementarities and develop projects of reciprocal interest.

We must therefore know how to take advantage of this particularly auspicious context to lend renewed force to our bilateral relations in political, economic and cultural terms, placing them on a higher threshold than at present.

Mr. President,

I believe that the fact that you decided to come to our country to attend the inauguration of the first Maltese undertaking in Portugal, bringing with you the Foreign Minister, is a gesture of great symbolism, and one which I interpret as a clear demonstration of your commitment to closer Luso-Maltese relations, with which we are entirely in agreement.

I am convinced, Mr. President, that your visit to Portugal will contribute to the opening of a new era in our bilateral relations and to reaffirming our common ambition to develop close co-operation within the heart of the European Union, making us more united and more solidary partners.

There are many fields in which we can combine our efforts and create synergies. I refer, for example, to areas as different as regional policies, co-operation in the fight against organised crime or even the vitally important dialogue of the European Union with the peoples of the south side of the Mediterranean basin.

I believe, in fact, that in this latter area both Malta, for its geo-strategic position at the centre of the Mediterranean, and Portugal, given its privileged location at the confluence of the Atlantic shore, have specific responsibilities in enlarging the scope of the dialogue between the two shores, preventing the new challenges and problems now facing us from overriding the historic opportunity we are experiencing.

I end with the conviction that your visit will contribute even further to the deepening of our mutual knowledge and encourage the development of our co-operation.