Lisbon, Dec. 10, 2024 (Lusa) – Portugal's president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, will be received this morning in Amsterdam by the king and queen of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander and Máxima, at the Royal Palace, during his state visit to that country.
The presidential entourage for this visit, which will run until Wednesday and include stops in Amsterdam, The Hague and Delft, includes the minister of the economy, Pedro Reis, and the secretary of state for European Affairs, Inês Domingos.
Also accompanying the head of state are representatives of five parties with seats in Parliament: the parliamentary leader of the CDS-PP, Paulo Núncio, and MPs Eurico Brilhante Dias, from the Socialist Party (PS), Isaura Morais, from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Marta Martins da Silva, from Chega, and Mário Amorim Lopes, from the Liberal Initiative (IL).
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa arrived in Amsterdam on Monday, where he met with representatives of the Portuguese community in the Netherlands and said that this is a "forward-looking" visit, centred on the economy and maritime affairs and that renewable energies are also on the agenda.
The state visit to this founding member state of the European Union and NATO, with which Portugal has had diplomatic relations since the 17th century, officially begins today with a welcome reception at the Royal Palace, followed by a private lunch with the king and queen.
Afterwards, the country's president will speak at an economic seminar, at which the minister of the economy, Pedro Reis, and the minister of foreign trade and development of the Netherlands, Reinette Klever, will also speak, and he will have a meeting with Portuguese researchers and academics.
At the end of the day, there will be a state banquet at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, the country's constitutional capital.
On Wednesday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will offer the king and queen a return reception in Amsterdam, with a concert by fado singer Camané, the last item on his programme in the Netherlands.
Before that, he will go to The Hague - the seat of the judiciary, the government, parliament and embassies - to visit the Senate and the House of Representatives and the international institutions housed in the Peace Palace: the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Hague Academy of International Law.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will also meet the Dutch prime minister, Dick Schoof, an independent, former Labour activist who leads a right-wing coalition government formed after the November 2023 parliamentary elections.
The king Willem-Alexander and queen Máxima were in Portugal on a state visit in October 2017.
The country's president already visited The Hague in February 2022, for an exhibition by the painter Paula Rego, and on that occasion was received by the monarch Willem-Alexander at the Royal Palace Huis ten Bosch.
Previous Portuguese presidents Mário Soares and Jorge Sampaio also visited the Netherlands, the former in October 1989 on a state visit and the latter in October 1997 on an official visit, both of which were reciprocated in the following years by Queen Beatrix.
Jorge Sampaio returned to the Netherlands in January 2001, when Rotterdam became the European Capital of Culture - along with the city of Porto - for the inaugural ceremony of this European Union initiative.
In 2023, the Netherlands was the seventh largest customer for Portuguese exports and the fourth largest supplier of imports. The trade balance has remained unfavourable for Portugal, with a negative balance of €1.84 billion last year.
According to figures from the 2023 Emigration Report, more than 4,500 Portuguese emigrated in 2022 to the Netherlands, which had become the sixth destination for Portuguese emigration and home to around 28,000 people with Portuguese nationality.
On Monday, Portugal's ambassador to the Netherlands, Clara Nunes dos Santos, said that there are now "almost 40,000 Portuguese" living in this member state of the European Union. The country's president indicated that the current figure is "37,000" and that "five thousand arrived last year alone".
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