"I had the opportunity and the joy of seeing President Luis Abinader, President and friend, accept the presence at the peace summit in Switzerland, which will take place on June 15 and 16. The Dominican Republic and Portugal will be there, alongside many other states from around the world", declared Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The Head of State, who was speaking at the Belém Palace, in Lisbon, at the end of a meeting with his Dominican counterpart, Luis Abinader, did not specify who will represent Portugal at this high-level summit on peace in Ukraine.

The President of the Dominican Republic, who spoke next, assumed that the Portuguese Head of State will be present: "I also thank him, and I accepted the invitation to the peace meeting that President Rebelo will have in Switzerland, which he will attend, and which really convinced us to attend".

Luis Abinader, who was received by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at the beginning of an official visit to Portugal, said that he had already received "the invitation from the President [of the Spanish Government] Sánchez" to participate in the summit in Switzerland.

"But, talking to President Rebelo, we can guarantee that we will attend, because the war situation in Russia and Ukraine goes beyond Europe, it affects the whole world and we will have the presence and representation of many countries from Central and South America. We will be there working, as always -- and this is something we agree on with President Rebelo -- in the search for peace", he added.

According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in today's meeting the two discussed the international situation and spoke "about the construction of peace, peace in Europe, in the war in Ukraine", a topic on which Portugal and the Dominican Republic have "the same position, in the United Nations and on the world stage".

Regarding cooperation on a multilateral level, the Portuguese Head of State stated: "We supported the Dominican Republic in its election to the Security Council in 2019-2020, and we hope for its support for 2027-2028".

"We also discussed the situation of the oceans, which is a common concern, and President Abinader's commitment and interest in strengthening cooperation with Portugal in maritime matters and also in maritime defence and security, possibly involving even greater cooperation with the Portuguese Air Force and the Portuguese Navy", he added.

On the other hand, according to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, there is a common understanding that "the agreement signed a year and a half ago should be deepened, in areas such as digital, artificial intelligence, and qualification".

"In collaboration in administrative modernization, but also in economic, cultural, scientific and technological collaboration. We have a long way to go", he considered.

The Portuguese President described Abinader as "a powerful leader in Central America, a Central American leader, with a universal openness, with relations with all continents and the great powers of the world", and stressed that he was recently re-elected, "very clearly", this month.

In turn, the Dominican President referred to the Portuguese Head of State as "master", said that he has consulted him and "his recommendations have always been very accurate" and praised "his leadership at the Ibero-American summits and in Europe".

In terms of bilateral cooperation, Abinader said he wanted to learn from the Portuguese experience of digital transformation and administrative modernization, "areas in which Portugal has been successful", and that to this end he will visit the Agency for Administrative Modernization (AMA) today.

In March 2023, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa made an official visit to the Dominican Republic, which he noted was the first by a Portuguese President, before participating in the 28th Ibero-American Summit.

[News updated at 13:55]

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