Speech by the Minister of National Defence at the opening session of the National Defence Space Conference

«I would like to start by welcoming you to the National Defence Space Conference and to this beautiful Fort. If you were here at night I can tell you that the view of the night sky would be truly inspirational. Since we are here during daytime, I am afraid that we must take inspiration from our work.

  

Your participation today and tomorrow reflects the many very useful contributions that we have been gathering from different stakeholders, within and beyond the Ministry of National Defence, in order to build a shared defence policy for space, to which I attach great importance.

The question I would like to start with is the following: Why do we need a Portuguese defence strategy for space, and why do we need it now?

My immediate answer would be that we need it because it is in Portugal’s strategic interest, and for two main reasons.»

 

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