Prime Minister Luís Montenegro met today at the Portuguese Embassy in Tokyo with athletes who will participate in the World Athletics Championships, marking the final agenda point of his official visit to Japan, which concludes in Osaka on Friday.
The Prime Minister spent several minutes talking with the President of the Portuguese Athletics Federation, Domingos Castro, who recalled a remark made by Montenegro that in government, one must be a marathon runner.
“Exactly, you have to run long distances. And Portugal is very well-ranked. Today, we have reasons to be optimistic about the future,” assured the Prime Minister.
According to the Prime Minister, Portugal’s reputation “has improved significantly in recent years.”
“And the stability we have from a financial and economic standpoint is a quality factor. We leave here sincerely hopeful that this will bring benefits,” he stated, adding that the official visit, first to China and now to Japan, “is going very well.”
Luís Montenegro has been Prime Minister since April 2024, leading two PSD/CDS-PP governments, succeeding eight years of PS governance under the current President of the European Council, António Costa.
In a brief address, Montenegro recalled that his visit to Japan was originally planned for May but was rescheduled due to “political calendar vicissitudes”—early elections following the government’s resignation—now coinciding with the athletes’ preparation.
“I’m glad to have this opportunity to wish you good luck and encourage you,” he said, expressing hope that Portugal’s flag will be “held in the highest regard in the coming days.”
Wanting to be brief—”you didn’t come here to endure a lengthy speech from the Prime Minister”—Montenegro took the opportunity to reaffirm the message that the current government “is a friend of sports.”
“It is a government that views sports practice as a boost to human development, aspires to universalize sports participation… But to motivate the country for this practice, and also to cultivate a sense of national unity and identity, we need those who set examples for others. You are those examples,” he emphasized.
The Prime Minister confirmed that the promise of expanding facilities for sports practice, supporting federations, the Olympic Committee, and participation in major competitions is “in progress.”
“It is a project that is ongoing and is to be maintained and strengthened in the coming years. The strategic plan we are developing in the area of sports is, as I like to say, from A to Z: it is known that to achieve a specific result, one must start early, not give up, and follow all steps until the moment of glory when the Portuguese flag is raised,” he urged.
At the end, he received from former athlete Domingos Castro a jersey signed by the entire delegation.
Starting Saturday and over more than a week, 31 Portuguese athletes will compete in Japan’s capital, the largest contingent ever for Portugal.
The team consists of 32 members, two more than the Athens 1997 team, but only 31 will compete as one is a substitute in the debuting 4×400 meters relay.
