Foreign affairs minister speaks after meeting with UK foreign secretary David Lammy
Portugal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, has highlighted the “great alignment” between Portugal and the United Kingdom, which he considers “quite promising”.
Rangel was talking after a meeting with British counterpart David Lammy at the Palácio das Necessidades in Lisbon today.
“There is a great alignment between the two oldest allies in the world in terms of defence,” Rangel told Lusa. “There was a commonality of views, an alignment, which I believe is quite promising”.
The bilateral relationship and the relationship with the European Union (EU) and the current international context, namely the war in Ukraine, were topics discussed during the meeting.
The relationship between London and the European Union “is in a clearly different and positive phase” since Brexit. “There has been a rapprochement between the two parties that is quite noticeable, and which Portugal has encouraged and obviously supports very clearly,” the minister adds.
The EU’s plans to invest in the Defence sector were discussed, as well as “how the United Kingdom can interact in this context”, he said, recalling that Portugal has participated at various levels in meetings of the so-called “coalition of countries willing” to support Ukraine, promoted by the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and French President, Emmanuel Macron.
The meeting also addressed NATOand plans for investment in defence in the medium term, at a time when the Atlantic Alliance is pushing member states to exceed the contribution of 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – an amount Portugal has not yet even reached.
Regarding the relationship with the new US administration, Rangel was suitably diplomatic.
“It is very important that, despite some differences in point of view and even in a different context today, a great effort is made to maintain as active a relationship as possible with the United States of America and with the new North American administration,” he said.
Source material: LUSA
