President Luis Abinader received the praise and recognition of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of Portugal during his state visit to Lisbon, Portugal on Tuesday, 28 May 2024. President Abinader is in Portugal with his wife and three daughters as part of a work vacation that ends with the return on 1 June 2024.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in his welcoming words spoke of the rare situation of welcoming a President who was ending his mandate and about to start another one. He also highlighted the Central American region leadership of President Abinader. He called Abinader a “powerful” regional leader with excellent relations in all continents.
He mentioned the two countries would work together to reinforce maritime defense and security. He also mentioned that the two had discussed bilateral relations and signed an agreement to work for building artificial intelligence rules for the Dominican Republic, a follow-up to the recent step the European Union has taken in building the rules for Europe.
President de Sousa spoke of the bilateral ongoing and potential for joint projects in economic, scientific, technological and cultural areas. “There is a long road for our two states to tread together,” he stated.
He spoke of backing the Dominican Republic in its humanitarian aid to Haiti. The Ministry of Public Health recently reported the Dominican Republic dedicates 17% of its public sector medical budget to cover the health needs of the Haitian population. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians study for free in the Dominican Republic. De Sousa expressed his expectations that the stabilization mission will begin in June in Haiti, in response to what he called a universal and international problem.
He thanked Abinader for visiting and advocated for future plans of fraternal, bilateral and multilateral collaboration.
Reuters reported the Dominican President and committee would meet with officials of the Administrative Modernization Agency (AMA), the Portuguese public agency that deals with the digitization of administration.
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President De Sousa remarks on President Abinader visit
Reuters
29 May 2024