The Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Diaspora held on the 20th and 21st December 2022, at Cidadela Palace, in Cascais, celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Council.

The event featured several institutional and business personalities of enormous importance in the national and international context for the discussion of the theme “Portugal – Challenges for the Future”.

The first day of the event was dedicated to the Internal Meeting between Counselors and members of the Advisory Board of the Portuguese Diaspora. The meeting featured the presentation of numerous projects to be implemented in 2023, namely an investment fund in partnership with Portugal Ventures, a new and restructured website and an internal communication platform, protocols with key associations for the representation of Portugal in the international context, such as the Global Diaspora Network and the Portuguese Communities Council, and also an investment in the internationalization of education for Portuguese students and descendants of the diaspora through the Erasmus+ programme. The session was closed by His Excellency, the Minister of the Economy and the Sea, António Costa Silva.

The second day, dedicated to the Institutional Meeting of the Council, was attended by several important personalities, namely, the Honorary Vice-President of the Diaspora Council, His Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho.

Considering the theme “Portugal – Challenges for the Future”, the Chairman of the Board of the General Assembly of the Council, José Manuel Durão Barroso addressed “The Role of Portugal on the New Global Geostrategic Map”. Mário Centeno, Governor of the Bank of Portugal, participated in the event by discussing the theme “The Future of the Economy and Employment in Portugal”.

The first panel of the day was dedicated to the discussion of “Education, Science and Health”, with distinguished speakers from Portuguese academia, such as António Cunha, President of CCDR Norte; Daniel Traça, Dean of Nova School of Business & Economics; and, Isabel Capeloa Gil, Rector of the Catholic University of Portugal and member of the Portuguese Diaspora Advisory Board.

The second panel – “Portugal and the Future of Innovation” – was introduced by His Excellency, the Minister of the Economy and the Sea, António Costa Silva, as a keynote speaker, and moderated by Pedro Reis, President of the Advisory Board of the of the Diaspora. The topic was discussed by prominent national and international personalities in the field of technological innovation, namely Carlos Oliveira, President of the José Neves Foundation; Daniela Braga, Founder and CEO of Defined.ai; and, Nuno Sebastião, CEO of Feddzai. Daniela Braga and Nuno Sebastião, both Councilors of the Portuguese Diaspora, lead two of the seven recognized Portuguese unicorns to date.

A sessão foi encerrada por Sua Exa., o Presidente da República Portuguesa e Presidente Honorário do Conselho da Diáspora Portuguesa, Professor Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, que deu as boas-vindas a 50 novos Conselheiros da Diáspora Portuguesa.