Prime Minister’s visit to Guinea-Bissau is support to the stability of the country’s institutions

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa expressed Portugal’s friendship and solidarity with the Guinea-Bissau democratically elected legitimate authorities, claiming that his official visit to this Portuguese-speaking country also means supporting its institution’s stability.

The Prime Minister began his visit by meeting his Guinean counterpart, Nuno Gomes Nabiam, followed by a meeting of the two delegations, leaving flowers at the monuments in honour of Amílcar Cabral and the former combatants of the liberation war, a meeting with the Portuguese community, a meeting with the President of the Republic, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, and the official dinner. On the 6th, before leaving for Cape Verde, he will leave flowers at the Portuguese part of Bissau cemetery.

António Costa referred to the attack by an armed group on the Government Palace, that led to 11 casualties: "We immediately condemned the events of 1 February and would like to reiterate our silidarity. Our visit here also means supporting stability, because in today’s world, conflicts must be dealt with through democratic means by votes, rather than any other way".

Cooperation programme

In a statement at the end of the meeting with Prime Minister Nabiam, the Portuguese Prime Minister recalled that Portugal and Guinea-Bissau have a 60-million-euro strategic cooperation programme that will only yield results "if there is the necessary stability".

The meeting between the two Heads of Government enabled the confirmation of positive concrete outcomes in the field of defence, education, mobility, and the environment.

The Guinean Head of Government underlined that António Costa’s visit "shows the Portuguese Government’s solidarity with Guinea-Bissau and shows that the country is stable, there are guarantees of investment and that people can come and work here without any problems".

Projects

The Prime Minister highlighted "four concrete (cooperation) projects that we wish to implement swiftly. The first one concerns military training with the presence of 30 experts in the various fields who will be travelling to Guinea-Bissau in the next four months to fulfil a training mission".

The second is to build a Portuguese school in Bissau "as soon as we have the land for it".

The third is a ship to improve connection with the Bijagós archipelago, and the fourth is to complete the study underway to classify this archipelago as a biosphere reserve, a recognition that will allow the attraction of "highly differentiating" nature tourism that will "surely" be a contribution to preserving natural heritage and socioeconomic development".

Amílcar Cabral

When depositing a wreath at Amílcar Cabral’s mausoleum, the founder of the Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde’s Independence movement, the Prime Minister claimed to have felt "emotional" because Amílcar Cabral was an "important person" for Guinea-Bissau and the liberation movements of the Portuguese-speaking African countries, but also because he was someone who helped to establish freedom and democracy in Portugal.

António Costa, who was with members of the Portuguese Government and the Guinean Minister of Defence, Sandji Fati, and the Head of the Guinean Armed Forces Biagué Na Ntan, noted that the visit is for the two countries to speak of peace and cooperation.

Portugal and Guinea-Bissau analysed the points where they will cooperate, namely the future joint security missions in the Gulf of Guinea for peace and security. "This is very important, it is a great example in history", he said.

The Prime Minister travelled with the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, the Minister of Defence, João Gomes Cravinho, and the Minister of the Environment and Climate Action, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, as well as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Francisco André.