The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said this Saturday that Portugal and Qatar have a “strong diplomatic relationship”, denied that there is “a black list” and contrasted “reality” with “speculations”.
Questioned by journalists about a story in the newspaper Sol stating that Portugal will be included in Qatar’s blacklist, the head of state said that “One thing is what is a speculation, another thing is reality.”
And he pointed out that “the reality is very simple, there is a strong diplomatic and economic relationship that comes from the past, which does not prevent the existence of different points of view on important issues”.
“But it cannot be said that there is a black list or a list of any other color that affects what is the normal foreign policy of a country, in this case it is Portugal and Qatar, as it could be Portugal and the United Arab Emirates. or Portugal and Saudi Arabia or other countries in that area that have very similar regimes in some important aspects”, considered the President of the Republic, who was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a visit to the Flea Market Solidarity Fair, in Lisbon.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also mentioned that he returned from that country on Friday, where he went to see the team’s World Cup match against Ghana, and met “with the Prime Minister and other Qatari officials.”
Source: Observadora
