Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Portuguese counterpart António Costa discussed a number of issues ranging from trade to international security, the fight against terrorism, climate change and immigration policy, the two leaders said at a joint press conference in Ottawa on Thursday.
The Portuguese prime minister is on a four-day visit of Canada that will also see him visiting Kingston, Toronto and Montreal.
Trudeau thanked Costa for Portugal’s support for the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Portugal was the eighth European country to ratify CETA last December.
Canada and Portugal will both participate in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, Trudeau said.
The two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding on air search and rescue operations in the Atlantic Ocean that will be finalized and signed in the coming months, Trudeau said.
The two countries also plan to strengthen cooperation in fighting ocean pollution and to ensure the viability of coastal communities, he said.
‘Not only strong partners but close friends’
The meeting was also a chance to deepen people-to-people ties between Canada and Portugal, Trudeau said.
“Indeed Portugal and Canada are not only strong partners but close friends,” Trudeau said.
May 13 marks the 65th anniversary of Portuguese immigrants arriving in Canada at Pier 21 in Halifax aboard the ocean liner Saturnia, marking the beginning of a large-scale wave of immigration from Portugal to Canada, Trudeau said.
“These immigrants and their descendants helped shape Canada into the country we know and love today,” Trudeau said.
“Today, Canada is home to more than 480,000 people of Portuguese descent, who continue to enrich our national fabric and our communities every single day.”
To build on these ties the two countries have signed an agreement on youth mobility, he said.
Later this year, Portugal and Canada plan to sign a modernized agreement on social security that will allow people who have lived and worked in both countries to receive the pensions and benefits to which they are entitled, Trudeau said.
The two leaders will travel to Toronto on Friday for meetings with business leaders at the Economic Club of Canada and members of the city’s Portuguese community, Trudeau said.
Costa, speaking in French and English, thanked Trudeau for his hospitality and described his visit as “a historic opportunity” to develop the ties between the two countries.
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