Santos Silva emphasizes cross-cutting political support for relations with Japan

BUTAugusto Santos Silva began his visit to Japan on Monday, which ended today, accompanied by a parliamentary delegation made up of deputies Jorge Gabriel Martins (PS), Afonso Oliveira (PSD), Alma Rivera (PCP) and the Left Bloc parliamentary leader. , Pedro Filipe Soares.

An invitation to make this trip to Japan to strengthen relations between the two countries at the parliamentary level had already been made to the former President of the Assembly of the Republic, Ferro Rodriguez, but was not implemented due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking to the Lusa news agency, Augusto Santos Silva said that “the parliamentary dimension adds a multi-party element to the work of the government in charge of foreign policy, which is very important.”

“This makes our interlocutors feel that the obligation to strengthen our relationship with Japan is a cross-cutting obligation to the Portuguese parliament, which mobilizes both the majority and the opposition. This is a big added value,” he said.

During his stay in Tokyo, Augusto Santos Silva held meetings with the chairmen of the two houses of the Japanese Diet, met with the Japan-Portuguese Friendship Parliamentary Group, and was received by Emperor Naruhito of Japan.

In addition to the institutional part, the Portuguese parliamentary delegation visited the Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki, and also held meetings with companies, namely in terms of the development of technologies used in agriculture.

According to a former foreign minister, a Japanese multinational wants to make Portugal “an international center of excellence for tomato technology.”

“Japan is very important for Portugal in terms of foreign investment because it is foreign investment that is largely done in partnership with Portuguese companies and allows for the transfer of technology and knowledge. However, commercial exchanges between the two countries, although they have grown since the agreement between the European Union and Japan in 2019, are still relatively small. They can grow even more,” he stressed.

“The main topics raised by the Portuguese parliamentary delegation were political and diplomatic – Japan is an ally of the West in East Asia – and the teaching of the Portuguese language,” said the President of the Assembly of the Republic before referring to a lecture he gave on Tuesday at the University of Foreign Studies in Tokyo .

At this conference, the President of the Assembly of the Republic spoke about “the force of law in a world of force.”

“The question was whether international law and multilateralism were damaged during a war in Europe with global implications. In my opinion, they have been harmed, but we must defend international law and multilateralism. We cannot accept this idea. that relations between states will again become relations of force, and not of international law,” he added.

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