“Namaskar! Madam President. Apka Lisbon me Swagat hai,” said Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas as he welcomed President Droupadi Murmu at a ceremonial event where she was conferred with the City Key of Honour, making her an honorary citizen of the Portuguese capital.
The ceremony was held at the Camara Municipal de Lisboa, the historic municipal building from whose Noble balcony the First Republic of Portugal was proclaimed in 1910. President Murmu, on a two-day state visit to Portugal, was also presented with a Guard of Honour at the venue.
The formal conferment took place in the Noble Salon, which was filled with members of the Indian community settled in Portugal. “With the handing over of the City Key of Honour, President Murmu becomes an honorary citizen of Lisbon,” said Mayor Moedas, while addressing the gathering.
Beginning her speech with the Portuguese greeting ‘Bom Dia’, President Murmu spoke warmly of the deep-rooted ties between India and Portugal. “The cultural connections between India and Portugal reverberate across centuries and have left an indelible mark on our everyday lives,” she said.
The President underscored the shared outlook of the two nations in global matters. “Shared sense of responsibility in international affairs also makes us natural partners in regional and multilateral fora,” she said.
She also noted, “Portugal has been a valued partner of India in promoting our relations with the European Union as well as Lusophone countries, where Portuguese is an official language.”
Highlighting the widespread appreciation for Indian heritage in Portugal, she remarked, “In Portugal too, evidence of this strong cultural connect can be seen in the widespread popularity of Indian art, culture, cuisine, yoga and ayurveda.”
Describing the Indian diaspora as the “bedrock of our relations”, she lauded their contribution to Portugal’s society and economy.
In his tribute to President Murmu, Mayor Moedas invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to the ancient Indian ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam during the G20 Summit. “This sentence tells it all, right, that we must refuse social division, us versus them. This is the sectarian way small minds see the world, by dividing society in different factions and groups,” the mayor said.
He added, “This is the way to avoid sectarianism, which the Upanishad warned us about. This is the lesson India still gives us today.”
Calling Lisbon and India partners in innovation and cultural heritage, Moedas said, “We all depend on each other and we all learn from each other. This is something that we feel very deeply here in Lisbon, and that’s why there is so much in common between us.”
He reflected on the civilisational bonds between India and Portugal. “First of all, identity, our shared history, India and Portugal, meant not only a revolution in science, in navigation, in geographical knowledge, it was a spiritual revolution, inspired by our ancient rich civilisation and culture, inspired by your principles, your story and your traditions,” he said.
Calling India an “innovation powerhouse”, Moedas said, “That today, just for the Portuguese friends to know, there are more than 110 unicorn companies in India. It’s most and all the European Union together.”
He further noted, “India is a nation of companies, of startups, with more than 130,000 startups working together every day in innovation.”
He drew parallels between the innovation journeys of India and Lisbon. “But Lisbon is also a city of innovation. We won the prize of the European Capital of Innovation in 2023 with a project called the Unicorn Factory, a hub for innovation for startups, for scalers,” he said.
Since the launch of the Unicorn Factory, he said, Lisbon has attracted more than 14 unicorns, over 74 tech companies, and created more than 16,000 jobs.
“I talked first about innovation, but innovation doesn’t make any sense if it doesn’t benefit people’s lives, if it doesn’t benefit the common good. And today I’m proud to have in this room entrepreneurs who make just this. They work for the common good. They show how strong businesses impact people’s lives across different sectors,” Moedas said, mentioning prominent Indian entrepreneurs operating in Portugal.
The Indian community in Portugal is estimated at around 1,25,000 individuals, including over 35,000 Indian nationals and approximately 90,000 persons of Indian origin, many of whom have ancestral ties to Gujarat and Goa.
Portugal, with a population of 10 million, hosts Indian-origin populations primarily in Lisbon, Algarve, and Porto.
The community has become an intrinsic part of Portugal’s social and economic fabric, with growing participation across sectors and regions.
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