Camões – Institute for Cooperation and Language is developing a “big bet” in Southeast Asia, using Macau as a platform, to “boost the presence of Portuguese in Asia,” the president of the institute told Lusa.
“There’s a big bet that we’re trying to develop with Southeast Asia, taking advantage of our presence in Macau through IPOR [Portuguese Institute of the Orient], we can also boost the presence of Portuguese in Asia,” Ana Paula Fernandes told Lusa on the sidelines of the inauguration of a chair in honor of Portuguese writer Lídia Jorge at the Brazilian Federal University of Goiás, the first chair of the Camões network in Brazil to honor a writer, the ninth in Brazil and the 63rd in the world.
“We’ve had requests from South Korea, but also from Japan, where I’ll be going in April to announce a new chair,” announced the head of the institute that promotes Portuguese language and culture abroad.
On the same occasion, Ana Paula Fernandes stressed her ambition to establish more chairs, but admitted that there was a “transition process with the next government regarding the priorities that will be established”.
But what was planned for 2024 “in the context of the State Budget that was approved was actually the reinforcement of the chairs”, he stressed.
“Obviously we have to do this in a sustainable way,” he said, adding that the first annual meeting will take place in July and will serve, among other things, to evaluate the impact and analyze the results.
“As a result, we need to understand where the markets are and position ourselves in those markets,” he said, adding that we need to be aware of new dynamics, such as new migratory flows of Portuguese.
But also “to allow access to the Portuguese language for others who have nothing to do with Portugal, nothing to do with Portuguese culture, but who want to learn Portuguese,” he said.
