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Mr President,

Minister,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honour, Mr President, to welcome you here today. Your visit celebrates the close ties that have long existed between our two countries. This close connection is due in particular to the fact that around 270,000 Portuguese citizens live in Switzerland - forming the third largest foreign community in our country.

In the 1960s and early 1970s it was primarily intellectuals and regime critics here as political refugees who helped to pave the way for the transition in Portugal from their base in Switzerland. Following the Carnation Revolution, those people were able to return home to help build a new, free Portugal.
Later, others came here to work and contributed to our country's prosperity and its cultural diversity. Both countries benefit from this exchange - economically and culturally.

I am delighted, Mr President, that your visit serves as an opportunity to pay tribute to the Portuguese community in Switzerland.

One topic that will certainly be addressed during our discussions is European policy. Portugal is a medium-sized member of the European Union, yet it is associated with a number of significant milestones. I am thinking of the Lisbon Treaty, which was signed in 2007 during Portugal's Council presidency, and the Lisbon Strategy of 2000. That strategy and the follow-up, ‘Europe 2020', aim to make the EU the world's most competitive economic area through innovation-based sustainable growth, and more and better jobs.

Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but it has every interest in helping to ensure that Europe as a whole enjoys peace, stability and economic prosperity. We are currently seeking ways of being better able to control immigration, while consolidating and further developing relations with the EU. And as an independent country we are also making our own contribution to competiveness and innovation in Europe. The things that connect us - our common cultural roots and the common goals we share on many issues for the world of tomorrow - are far stronger than those that divide us.

Cooperation between our two countries at multilateral level at the UN is excellent. It goes without saying that we will give the new UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, our full support in his efforts to work for peace and the protection of human rights.

Mr President,

Minister,

I spoke earlier of Portugal's highly qualified emigrants. Architects, engineers, IT specialists, researchers in medicine, aerospace and environmental sciences are in demand. More and more foreign students are attending Portuguese universities. It is no coincidence that the Web Summit, one of the world's largest and most influential events for start-ups and for technology and innovation, is being held in Lisbon this year, and in the years to come.

Portugal is rightly proud of its universities, researchers and scientists. It also comes as no surprise that the Global Platform for Syrian Students, set up, Mr President, by one of your predecessors to help Syrian students find university places, came into being in Portugal. In Portugal great value is placed on ‘knowledge' as a resource - but as a former university professor yourself, you know that only too well!

Just like Portugal, Switzerland too strives for excellence in university education. Nevertheless, two-thirds of young Swiss opt for the path of vocational education and training; solid training in a host company, supplemented by classroom teaching at a vocational school. This dual-track system, which takes into account the needs of the real economy, not only helps young people to enter the world of work, it also equips them with professional skills at an early stage. That model, combined with lifelong learning, contributes to the innovative capacity of our economy.

Switzerland attaches importance to promoting the exchange between theoretical and practical education. But it is not enough to simply foster this exchange internally. There needs to be cross-border exchange to stimulate competition, scientific and technological advances and innovation.

That is why Switzerland's full association to the Horizon2020 framework research programme is so important to me. The competiveness and the power of the whole continent to innovate will be decisive in determining whether we in Europe will be able to safeguard jobs and research posts, and maintain our prosperity with a view to Industry 4.0.

Mr President, relations between our two countries are excellent. I look forward to discussing with you ways of further strengthening these relations. Given that there are so many people who call both Switzerland and Portugal their home, the conditions could not be more auspicious. Once again, welcome to Switzerland!

Official address given by President Johann N. Schneider-Ammann