Toast Speech by President Tony Tan at the State Banquet hosted by His Excellency Aníbal Cavaco Silva, President, the Portuguese Republic

Your Excellency Mr Aníbal Cavaco Silva

President of the Portuguese Republic

First Lady Mrs Maria Cavaco Silva

Excellencies

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to thank Your Excellency for hosting my wife and me, and my delegation, on Singapore’s first-ever State Visit to Portugal.  I am delighted to be here, and we are touched by the warm welcome and generous hospitality accorded to us.  I am happy to reciprocate the State Visit to Singapore that Your Excellency made in 2012. 

Relations between Singapore and Portugal have been strengthened through the exchanges of high level visits and other contacts.  Since Your Excellency’s State Visit in 2012, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Grace Fu visited Portugal in May 2013.  She also had a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Rui Machete on the sides of the Asia-Europe Meeting of Foreign Ministers’ in New Delhi last November.  The Portugal-Singapore Friendship group set up in 2012 in the Assembly of the Republic provides a new platform for closer inter-parliamentary relations between Portugal and Singapore.  Portugal has also upgraded its Embassy in Singapore in 2013 to one headed by a full Ambassador.  I am happy that Chairman of the Board of Montepio Group Dr António Tomás Correia was recently appointed as Singapore’s Honorary Consul in Lisbon.

Singapore closely follows developments in Europe, including Portugal.  I salute Portugal for its steadfast and courageous efforts to meet its economic challenges over the past three years, and the Portuguese people for their resilience in the face of difficult adjustments, which have paved the way for exiting the Economic Adjustment Programme.  After two-and-a-half years of recession, the Portuguese economy has returned to growth in 2013, with a forecast of 1.2% GDP growth in 2014.  The European Commission has recognised Portugal as one of a few EU members that have recorded Total Factor Productivity growth in the period from 2008 to 2013, which is a clear measure of growing competitiveness.

The global economy recovery will present opportunities only if we guard against protectionism.  Small countries like Portugal and Singapore need to maintain close links and continue to push for free trade and open markets, and further economic cooperation.  In this context, I am pleased that a business delegation led by the Singapore Business Federation is here with me on this visit. 

It is my hope that the Singapore-Portugal Business Forum tomorrow will raise awareness of mutually beneficial opportunities for collaboration and result in more business tie-ups.  Among our projects in Portugal, I understand that expansion plans are underway at the container terminal in Sines run by Singapore’s PSA International, which will make the Sines terminal one of the largest employers in the region. 

Other Singapore companies which have operations in Portugal include CWT Globelink in the transport sector and Banyan Tree in the hospitality sector.

The EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement is a comprehensive and high quality agreement that will bring about greater trade and investment flows between the EU and Singapore and provide new opportunities for the growth and development of our respective economies and businesses.  I thank Portugal for its support for an expeditious ratification of the agreement.  We also look forward to Portugal’s support for an ASEAN-EU Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement.  The EU-ASEAN Aviation Summit in Singapore this February has highlighted the rich prospects that such an agreement holds for greater economic cooperation and stronger people-to-people ties between our two regions.

People-to-people ties between Singapore and Portugal go back a long way.  Portugal first made contact with Southeast Asia in 1511 and established trade between Asia and Europe.  The Church of Saint Joseph, a national monument of Singapore, was constructed by the Portuguese Mission in 1853.  The Portuguese Eurasian community in Singapore is a community that has made significant contributions to Singapore’s development.  An old Portuguese song, “Jingkli Nona” (“beautiful girl”), which Your Excellency heard during the State Banquet in Singapore, is widely regarded as the unofficial anthem of this community in Singapore.  Portuguese influence also extends into our Malay community with research pointing to some 400 words in the Malay language being of Portuguese origins. 

Your Excellency

Excellencies

Ladies and Gentlemen

Relations between Singapore and Portugal are in excellent shape, bolstered by close historical links, strong people-to-people ties and expanding cooperation between our two countries and regions. 

I hope that my visit will build on our strong relations and further strengthen the collaboration between our countries.

May I now invite you all to rise and join me in a toast to: 

·        The continued good health and success of Their Excellencies President and First Lady Cavaco Silva; and

·        The enduring and close friendship between the Portuguese Republic and the Republic of Singapore.