The Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities said today that Portugal has “open arms” to receive emigrants to live, invest or do tourism and urged them to maintain the link to the “umbilical cord” that is the Portuguese language.
“This land and this country are with open arms to welcome you, whether you want to come to live, invest or simply come for tourism,” said Paulo Cafôfo, who was in Montalegre, Vila Real district, to celebrate Emigrant Day.
The initiative that honors emigrants was promoted by the Chamber of Montalegre and included a competition of cattle of Barrosã breed and also the final of the tournament of arrivals of oxen, a tradition more cherished in the region than a soccer game.
The Secretary of State stressed that the diaspora “is an asset of the country”, recalling that there are about five million Portuguese spread around the world.
“They are vitally important for the development of the country, particularly for the interior and low-density territories (…) The future of Portugal cannot be made without the Portuguese diaspora, without the Portuguese who live abroad. We will be a country without a future if we do not look at the contribution they can make,” he said.
Addressing the emigrants directly, Paulo Cafôfo urged them to maintain the connection to the Portuguese language, stressing that it is a responsibility of those who are parents to teach Portuguese to their children.
“Because to stop speaking Portuguese is to lose the language that is the umbilical cord that connects us (…) Listen to Portuguese music, watch Portuguese television, read Portuguese books and speak Portuguese at home to maintain the bond,” he said.
In this regard, already speaking to journalists, he said that there are “more than 72 thousand children and young people learning Portuguese in the world”, in a network of Portuguese teaching abroad that “implies an annual investment of 30 million euros”.
“And we are investing 17 million euros in the digitization of education,” he said, specifying that ‘tablets’ will be distributed with tools for learning the language, which will “allow greater motivation and greater learning”.
For Portuguese descendants who want to study in Portugal, the Secretary of State pointed out that this year there are 7% of places available in the first phase of the competition for access to higher education and 2.5% in the second phase.
Then, he also listed the support of the Portuguese Government to associations abroad that promote activities linked to our country, referring that, this year, 900 thousand euros of support have already been delivered to associations.
Paulo Cafôfo also recalled the programs launched by the Government, namely the National Diaspora Investment Support Program (PNAID), created in 2020, which has 260 emigrants with investor status, an investment value of 153 million euros and which “is continuously increasing”.
Under the Return program, almost 20,000 people have returned to Portugal.
“And there is the curiosity that 77% of the people who returned are between 25 and 44 years old and of these 38% have higher education. We are managing to capture people who during periods of crisis had to leave Portugal”, he stressed.
In addition to the support, Paulo Cafôfo said that this “is also a political signal that the Government gives”, the “such a sign of open arms to receive those who have never forgotten” Portugal.
As part of the initiative “connecting Portugal to the diaspora” that is being carried out, the Secretary of State will also go to Fafe today to contact the emigrant community and attend the presentation of the book “As Fafeiras” and the screening of the film “Erosão” on emigration themes.
