Lisbon, Aug. 18, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, met on Monday with his counterpart from Guinea-Bissau, Carlos Pinto Pereira, the country that expelled the Lusa agency, RTP and RDP, expressing the expectation that the situation "can be overcome".

"This meeting, organised to make every effort to resume full normality in bilateral relations, was clearly constructive, leaving a positive expectation that the current situation can be overcome," he said in a brief note after the meeting in Lisbon.

The note refers to the communiqué of 15 August, in which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) repudiated the expulsion of the Lusa, RTP and RDP agencies from Guinea-Bissau, which it described as "highly reprehensible and unjustifiable", and said it would ask the Guinean government for explanations.

After that, the MFA said, there were "several contacts" and today the opportunity to receive the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guinea-Bissau "personally at the Palácio das Necessidades".

In its statement of 15 August, the Portuguese government said that, "aware of the importance of the work of these media outlets for the populations of both countries and the Lusophone community in general, it will do everything in its power to reverse this decision".

The government, it added, is monitoring "the situation with the administrations of Lusa, RTP and RDP".

The delegations of the Lusa agency, RTP and RDP were expelled from Guinea-Bissau, their broadcasts were suspended that same day, and the representatives were told to leave the country by Tuesday, by decision of the Guinean government, but no reasons were given.

ANP/ADB // ADB.

Lusa