NEW YORK – The consular reform being prepared by the Portuguese government will allow each person “to have a consulate on their cell phone,” said Prime Minister António Costa while addressing members of the Portuguese community in New York.
Costa was speaking Tuesday night at a reception held at the official residence of Portugal’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ana Paula Zacarias.
In his remarks, António Costa said “it is essential to increasingly strengthen relations” between the Portuguese who reside in Portugal and those who are scattered around the world, and it is “essential” to maintain these ties and be able to “promote their passing from generation to generation.”
In this regard, he spoke about the work being done for the digitalization and dematerialization of the consular system: “A consular reform that will allow not only consulates to function in better conditions physically, but also so that each one of us can have a consulate on our cell phones.”
“It’s a very big effort that has to be made, but we have to make it, so that we can use the new technological tools and we can all be more together,” the prime minister added.
The reference to the physical conditions of the consulates prompted a few smiles.
António Costa left “a word of recognition” for the Portuguese community, pointing out that emigrants are “the best face of representation” of Portugal abroad, “without disrespecting” the diplomats.
On the foreign front, Costa referred to the Russian invasion of Ukraine to defend the importance, sometimes questioned, of institutions like the United Nations and the defense of international law.
“The brutality with which war returned to Europe on Feb. 24 reminded us all that international law is an essential asset that must be preserved to guarantee peace, to guarantee freedom, the right to self-determination, the right to sovereignty, and the territorial integrity of any state anywhere in the world,” he said.
Also present at the reception were Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs João Gomes Cravinho, Education Minister João Costa and the Secretary of State for the Sea José Maria Costa.
António Costa arrived in New York on Monday to take part in the general debate of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, in which he will speak on Thursday.
On Sept. 10, the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities said the Portuguese government had planned, as part of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), “for the virtual consulate to be up and running in 2026,” but wants to bring that deadline forward.
According to Paulo Cafôfo, the Government anticipates that “next June 10 this virtual consulate will already be operational and at the service of Portuguese men and women living abroad.”
In an interview with RTP International, Cafôfo pointed out that this reorganization “involves several governmental areas, which need to be articulated.”
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