Portuguese emigrants are ‘ambassadors’ of Portugal in Switzerland
Paulo Café spoke to the Lusa agency at the end of a four-day visit to six Swiss cantons, where he made contact with the Portuguese-speaking consular services community.
“What I have here is pride in the Portuguese and in our Portuguese, who live here and throughout this program, found well”, said the minister.
And he added: “We have a diplomatic representation and another that are these Portuguese and Portuguese people who are very well adapted and adjusted to societies different from ours and succeed”.
In Switzerland, Paulo Cafôfo held several meetings with sustainable and sustainable local authorities that “recognise an integration in which cultural integration and integration are a reality and which have contributed a lot to this rich country”
The State of Swiss origin, the origins of Portugal: The oldest community of origin, is now returning to the Swiss origins and its origins, which already originates from Switzerland and its origins, but which already originates from Switzerland . have a connection to their country, grandparents, and graduates, of the Portuguese, are an emigration from their strongest countries, which are the companies that are in new places of science, academia, Portuguese consultancy and end up being a new type of diaspora and which is also proud and important to give value and visibility.
The latter, advanced, “being the traditional diaspora, not influence that Portugal has a great strength”.
In 2020, Switzerland was the main destination for Portuguese emigration, followed by France and the United Kingdom.
According to the most recent Emigration Report, that year 7,542 Portuguese chose to live in Switzerland, which is the country in the world with the most Portuguese emigrants: 210,731 in 2020, just seconds after France.
On this trip, which started Tuesday and ends today, Paulo Cafôfo contacts Portuguese teachers and teachers, with 73 teachers, more than 7,000 students and an investment of 6.5 million euros.
“The Portuguese language is also an opportunity for employment, success and has an economic value that people are now recognizing,” he said.
Cafôfo visited Portuguese companies in Switzerland and contacted the associative movement, composed of “people who, voluntarily, end up affirming” Portuguese culture.
“We have a community without problems from the point of view of social graves. What we have to do is defend their interests with the Swiss authorities and continue to value, whether the Portuguese who have lived for more years or those who more recently, more prepared emigration, are playing cards here in Switzerland”, he advocated.
The Secretary of State’s visit included visits to the cantons of Zurich, Bern, Neuchâtel, Valais, Vaud and Geneva, where two-thirds of the Portuguese community in the country are located, with more than 172,000 Portuguese.
The visit is part of the set of joint initiatives of the diaspora, called “Portugal in the World: Paths for the Valorization of Portuguese Communities”.
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