For Jorge Viegas, president of the International Motorcycling Federation and a resident of Switzerland for 8 years, the perception of Portugal abroad is now “totally different” from the past, with Portugal seen as a safe country with business acumen.
No longer Ronaldo’s country
“It’s no longer Ronaldo’s country – before it was Figo’s country – and football’s,” said the first Portuguese to head an international sports federation.
Regarding the burden he carries, he recalled that, despite Portugal being “an oasis,” things haven’t always been easy for the Portuguese and that being Portuguese was, in the not-too-distant past, a disadvantage compared to other countries, such as France or England.
Due to his current role, Jorge Viegas frequently travels to various countries and always finds a strong connection between Portuguese people living abroad and people of Portuguese descent to their country of origin.
He himself shares these sentiments: “We speak ill of Portugal when we are there, and then, abroad, we only speak well of Portugal.”
António Pargana, a Portuguese man who has lived in Brazil for decades, where he founded a foundation to develop ties between the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the diaspora and Portugal, considers himself a Portuguese man who will always be Portuguese.
But it was with “the green and yellow jersey” that, for years, he sold Brazilian products in Africa, sparing no praise for the country that welcomed him, as he outlined today at the first forum of Portugal Global Nation, which runs until Thursday at the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon.
“Brazil allows us to develop our dreams,” he said, recounting that he invested successfully in renewable energies in that country.
In October 2023, she established the António Pargana Foundation, through which she intends to contribute to strengthening ties between Portugal and the Diaspora, particularly with the student body with hereditary or affective ties to the country.
And she is already starting with Portuguese descendants living in Portugal, as she shared with the participants at this forum, which brings together more than 600 people from 43 countries across five continents.
Luísa Buinhas is co-founder and program director of Vyoma GmbH, a 2020 startup that launches satellite-based telescopes into Earth orbit to enable monitoring of objects in near-Earth space.
An aerospace engineer, she emphasised today, at the Portugal Global Nation forum, the importance of space technology for security and sovereignty.
This Portuguese woman living in Germany expressed openness to the possibility of the company she co-founded publicising its contacts with Portuguese companies, especially since Portugal has begun developing its aerospace industry, having recently participated in the launch of six satellites.
Luísa Buinhas graduated from the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Portugal, and later completed a doctorate abroad.
In Munich, where he lives, he doesn’t interact with many fellow countrymen, but he does have at least one working at his company.
He believes that space is a promising business sector and could even be the reason for the investment that the Portugal Global Nation Forum is promoting.
“There is a whole economy around space. If space disappeared, there would be an economic calamity,” he stated.
Portugal Global Nation is an annual action-oriented meeting that connects Portuguese territories with diaspora entrepreneurs and national Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), aiming to create concrete business opportunities.
On this platform, each territory in Portugal presents its most competitive assets, each diaspora entrepreneur showcases their investment capabilities, and each national SME identifies partners for international expansion.
