The Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Diaspora Council, which celebrates the Council’s 11st anniversary, was held on December 20 and 21, 2023, at the Palácio Cidadela in Cascais.

The event featured several institutional and business personalities of enormous importance in the national and international context to discuss the theme “Challenges for 2024”.

The first day of the event was dedicated to the Internal Meeting between the Counselors and members of the Advisory Board of the Portuguese Diaspora Council. The meeting included the presentation of various projects developed throughout 2023. Notable among these initiatives was the collaboration with the Rede Global da Diáspora and the Conselho das Comunidades Portuguesas, the creation of Regional Hubs, Ponto PT, an educational project for learning, spreading and deepening the Portuguese language and culture, and the Erasmus+ Diáspora program. In addition, the planning of activities for next year was presented, which includes the launch of the EuroAmericas Forum and the Youth Diaspora initiative. The session was closed by the President of the Board of the Council, António Calçada de Sá, and the President of the Advisory Board, Pedro Reis.

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

The Chairman of the Board of the General Assembly of the Council, José Manuel Durão Barroso, spoke about “Europe and the World, some reflections and perspectives”. His Excellency, the Minister for the Economy and the Sea, António Costa Silva, addressed the theme “Vision and Goals for 2023”.

The first panel of the day was dedicated to discussing the “Current Context, Trends and Goals 2023”, with the distinguished speakers: Fernando Marta, Chief of Staff to the Executive Director of Altice; Catarina de Albuquerque, CEO of Sanitation and Water for All; Isabel Ucha, CEO of EuroNext and Pedro Oliveira, Dean of the Nova School of Business and Economics.

The second panel, “The Role of Companies and Organizations in Sustainability”, featured prominent figures such as Gonçalo Saraiva Matias, President of the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation; João Pedro Oliveira e Costa, CEO of Banco BPI; José Barreto, Partner at Goldman Sachs Private Equity and Renata Ramalhosa, CEO of Beta-i Brasil.

The session was closed by His Excellency, the President of the Portuguese Republic and Honorary President of the Portuguese Diaspora Council, Professor Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who welcomed 50 new Portuguese Diaspora Councillors.

Click here to see the full gallery of the event.