“I had the opportunity to talk with Carlos Moedas about this matter. We have been discussing and working on such a solution for several weeks now, and it seems very good to us that there is this type of contact, because Porto and Lisbon are two urban centers in our country that have some similarities, some problems, and some [common] expectations. And we have a great interest in maintaining this dialogue and being able to jointly also engage with the central power,” Pedro Duarte stated today.
The president of AMP, who is also the mayor of Porto, reiterated his desire to be a “voice of the North,” an idea he defended in his victory speech during the municipal elections in October, and expressed his wish to “sit at the table” with the government.
“I have said several times that I will fight hard so that we can live in a more balanced country, and for that, I intend to be a voice of the North, even assertive if necessary. But mainly very appealing in attracting investment and prioritizing this region,” he explained.
Emphasizing that he does not want to “wage a war against Lisbon,” Pedro Duarte mentioned that the two metropolitan areas need to “speak eye to eye with the central power.”
“We will not look up to the central power. Porto sits at the same table as Lisbon and the central power, because, at the end of the day, we are all fighting for the same goal: to have a better, more balanced, and more cohesive country, where living in Lisbon doesn’t make one more Portuguese than living elsewhere and vice versa,” he asserted.
On Thursday, Carlos Moedas, the president of the Lisbon City Council and the Lisbon Metropolitan Council, announced the intention of holding an initial summit and highlighted the need for “quick solutions” for the metropolitan areas, “which generate most of the country’s wealth,” emphasizing the importance of the country as a whole, but stressing “the two major or the engines of economic development of the country.”
