Date of Entry: March 26, 1975

National Holiday:June 10

Capital: Lisbon

Type of Government: Republic, Parliamentary Democracy

Chief of State:PresidentMarcelo Rebelo de Sousa (March 2016)

Head of Government:PrimeMinister António Costa(October 4, 2015)

Minister of State and Foreign Affairs:Augusto Santos Silva (November26, 2015)

Permanent Observer: Ambassador Domingos Fezas Vital

ECONOMIC INDICATORS / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016
Population (in millions) / 10.56 / 10.57 / 10.57 / 10.54 / 10.49 / 10.35 / 10.3
GDP (US$ in billions) / 238.3 / 244.34 / 216.9 / 226.1 / 229.63 / 199.08 / 204.57
GDP per capita (US$) / 22,538.66 / 23,196.19 / 20,557.4 / 21,618.74 / 22,007.6 / 19,220 / 19,813.31

Source: World Bank

FOREIGN RELATIONS POLICIES:

  • The Ministry of Foreign Affairs implements foreign policy, development cooperation policy and the policy for connecting Portugal to the Portuguese communities around the world. It is also responsible for coordinating the other ministries' external actions.
  • The European Union (EU) is at the heart of Portuguese foreign and economic policies. Portugal has held the rotating six-monthly Presidency of the European Council on three occasions: in 1992, 2000, and again in the second half of 2007.
  • Portugal belongs to a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization.
  • Portugal became a charter member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949; it is an active member of the Alliance, and Portuguese forces participate in NATO operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

PORTUGUESE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION:

  • Portuguese development cooperation aims to contribute to a better coordination between different national actors to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of its activities. An important element within its foreign policy is the promotion and protection of the Portuguese language and culture.
  • The key themes within Portuguese development assistance comprise sustainable economic development, human security and the active involvement of Portugal in international debates on related topics. The Portuguese government aims toincrease its collaboration with civil society organizations,the private sector, other bilateral donors and multilateral organizations in order to increase the effectiveness of its policies.
  • Portuguese development assistance focuses especially on Portuguese speaking countries in Africa (Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique, among others) and Macau and East Timor in Asia, as well as other countries with which Portugal historically has had tight relations.
  • Priority areas for development cooperation: education; health; rural development; protection of the environment and sustainable use of natural resources; economic growth, private sector development and stimulating entrepreneurship.
  • Cross-sectorial topics of priority are good governance, gender and democracy.
  • Multilateral cooperation has been guided by the Strategy for Multilateral Cooperation, which was adopted in 2009 and seeks to promote complementarity between Portugal’s bilateral and multilateral action. In line with this Strategy, priority is given to entities that play a key role in poverty reduction, particularly in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Fragile States. In addition to participating in European Commission’s (EC) programmes, Portugal is actively involved in several multilateral development programmes, such as UNDP projects (in the Rule of Law area and in the Democratic Governance Trust Fund), Budget Support to Mozambique and Cape Verde, and the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT).

PORTUGUESE INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT (IPAD):

  • The Directorate-General of External Policy of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for the formulation of the development cooperation strategy. However, since 2003, the Portuguese Institute for Development (IPAD) is the implementing and coordinating agency of Portuguese development cooperation policies in Portuguese speaking countries.
  • The Portuguese Institute for Development Support (IPAD) is the result of a merger between the Portuguese Cooperation Institute (ICP) and the Portuguese Agency for Development Assistance. It assumes the role of the central agency for development cooperation. IPAD is responsible for coordinating Portugal’s entire highly decentralized aid program, which is spread across 15 ministries, universities, other public institutions and 308 municipal governments. It combines coordinating and programming functions with financial planning, monitoring and evaluation. It promotes projects proposed by other public institutions and ensures cooperation with NGOs, as well as co-financing.
  • IPAD now is coordinates and supervises most of Portuguese development assistance activities, both bilateral and multilateral. The IPAD falls under the stewardship of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

INVOLVEMENT WITH THE AMERICAS:

  • Portugal has historically good ties with the Latin American nations, particularly Brazil. Portugal has also gives close attention to its relations with Venezuela, which has a community of about 450,000 Portuguese working primarily in the trade and services sectors. The country maintains diplomatic relations with all Latin American and Caribbean countries.
  • Portugal is a member of the Ibero-american Conference. It provides for close political interaction with all Latin American countries.
  • Portugalmaintains embassies in 12 countries of the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Peru, United States of America, Uruguay and Venezuela.

CASH CONTRIBUTIONS 2007-2016:

YEAR / PORTUGAL / P.O. FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS / %
2007 / $18,200.00 / $20,398,686.00 / 0.09%
2008 / $22,684,500.00 / 0.00%
2009 / $20,318,115.00 / 0.00%
2010 / $15,781,991.00 / 0.00%
2011 / $5,000.00 / $15,692,757.00 / 0.03%
2012 / $13,239,105.00 / 0.00%
2013 / $16,926,686.00 / 0.00%
2014 / $10,999,882.00 / 0.00%
2015 / $17,489,205.00 / 0.00%
2016 / $14,048,254.00 / 0.00%
Total US$ / $23,200.00 / $167,579,181.00 / 0.01%

PORTUGAL CONTRIBUTIONS:

YEAR / PROJECTS / FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
IN US$ / IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS
IN US$
2007 / AP-Seminar OAS-African Union (Bridging Democracy Project). / $18,200.00
SUBTOTAL / $18,200.00
2011 / Secretariat for Political Affairs / Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation – OAS Electoral Observation Mission to Observe the Second Round of the Presidential and Legislative Elections in Haiti / $5,000.00
SUBTOTAL / $5,000.00
TOTAL / $23,200.00

SOURCES:

PRESIDENCY OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC

PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC GOVERNMENT

PORTUGUESE INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT (IPAD)
/ EMBASSY OF PORTUGAL, WASHINGTON DC

WORLD BANK – TRADING ECONOMICS

This page was last updated on July 11, 2017.