The president of the PSD will commemorate the Day of Portugal with the communities that live in South Africa and Mozambique, in a six day trip which begins Thursday and runs through June 14.
In a statement, the PSD recalls that, in previous years, Rui Rio marked June 10 in Guinea Bissau, in 2018, and in Brazil, in 2019, “having been forced, in 2020, to postpone the visit to Mozambique due to the pandemic”.
In 2018, the first year of his leadership in the PSD (which will depart the first weekend of July), Rui Rio said that he had arranged his trip to Guinea-Bissau with the President of the Republic, considering it “more positive for Portugal” to celebrate June 10 in a different place than Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the Prime Minister, António Coast. .
This year, the official Portugal Day commemorations will take place in Braga and with the UK’s Portuguese communities.
Rui Rio’s program starts in on Thursday, with a meeting with the Portuguese communities at the Consulate General of Portugal in Johannesburgfollowed, on Portugal Day, by a lunch with the ambassador in Pretoria and a dinner with the Portuguese community of that city.
On Saturday, already in Mozambique, the still president of the PSD will visit the Central Hospital of Beira and will have a meeting with the Commercial Association of this region.
On June 13, Rui Rio’s agenda includes a meeting with the non-governmental organization Kanimamboan association to support people with albinism, followed by a dinner at the Portuguese embassy in Maputo to “exchange points of view on the situation in Mozambique and bilateral relations”.
On the last day of his trip, June 14, Rui Rio will present his greetings to the President of the Assembly of the Republic of MozambiqueHe will have lunch with leaders of three Portuguese associations in Maputo and will visit the University of the Mozambican capital.
Rio has been president of the PSD since January 2018 and, after the electoral defeat in the legislative session on January 30, announced the decision to leave office for the summer and advance direct elections (He had a mandate until December 2023).
The former parliamentary leader of the PSD Luís Montenegro won the direct elections on May 28, defeating former vice president Jorge Moreira da Silva by 72.5% of the votes, and will assume full functions as president in Congress, which takes place from 1 to 03 July, in Porto.
When he became head of state in 2016, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa launched, together with the Prime Minister, António Costa, and with the participation of both, an unprecedented model of double celebrations on June 10, first in Portugal and later with the Portuguese communities abroad.
In 2016 the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities was celebrated between Lisbon and Paris, in 2017 between Porto and Brazil, in 2018 between the Azores and the United States of America and in 2019 between Portalegre and Cape Verde.
In 2020, due to the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa canceled the June 10 celebrations that were planned for Madeira and South Africa and chose to mark the date with a “symbolic ceremony” at the Monastery. Jerónimos, in Lisbon, with only the two speakers and six guests.
In 2021, the Portugal Day celebrations took place in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, with an intense program for three days.
Source: Observadora
