| Subject: Lusa: FM says Lisbon seeks
bolstered ties with both Lusophone bloc and EU
Portugal: FM says Lisbon seeks bolstered ties with both Lusophone bloc
and EU
Lisbon, March 22 (Lusa) - Foreign Minister Diogo Freitas do Amaral says
Lisbon's new Socialist government intends to increase its cooperation with
Portuguese-speaking African countries and East Timor, while simultaneously
seeking a more dynamic role within the European Union.
Making his first speech in the Lisbon parliament Monday, Freitas do
Amaral told lawmakers the government proposes to review and maximize
Lisbon's bilateral cooperation with each of its five former African
colonies and Timor.
Portugal's new head of diplomacy, a former conservative leader and
losing rightwing candidate in a fiercely fought 1986 presidential poll won
by former Socialist leader Mario Soares, said he had received invitations
to visit Angola, Sao Tome and Brazil "in the near future".
Lisbon must not neglect its ties with Europe at the expense of
revitalized relations with the Lusophone bloc, he cautioned, and Portugal
will have a more clout within the EU through boosting its presence in
Africa.
A more active and successful Portuguese diplomacy within the 25- nation
European bloc would similarly give Lisbon heightened influence in its
relations with its former colonies, Freitas do Amaral told MPs.
The 63-year-old founder of the CDS Christian Democrat Party, one of
eight independent ministers summoned to the compact 16-member cabinet of
Prime Minister José Sócrates earlier this month, said he had no qualms
about working in a Socialist executive.
Lisbon's new centre-left government remains committed to membership of
the NATO alliance, he said, and Portugal will continue to send military
personnel to missions of a "humanitarian nature".
Freitas do Amaral has been an outspoken critic of the United States-led
invasion of Iraq and he was questioned by a conservative MP on his current
position towards Washington and President George W.
Bush.
"I am structurally pro-America, but events make me anti-Bush
because of the Iraqi war", he said, noting that the American leader
has modified Washington`s "foreign policy" during his second
presidential term.
VAM/CJB.
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