Portuguese President Sampaio arrives for state visit

Portugal’s President Jorge Sampaio is on Wednesday paying a one-day state visit to Switzerland, where official talks will be dominated by the bilateral relations between Switzerland and the European Union.

Portugal’s President Jorge Sampaio arrived Wednesday for a one-day state visit to Switzerland, where official talks will be dominated by the bilateral relations between Switzerland and the European Union.

The state visit was to have lasted three days but was cut short on Lisbon’s request because of the critical situation in the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.

Sampaio, who was welcomed at Geneva airport by Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss (right) and Foreign Minister Joseph Deiss, expressed his concern about the situation in East Timor.

While the crisis is expected to be discussed during Sampaio’s talks with the Swiss cabinet, the official agenda will more likely focus on Swiss relations with the EU, which includes Portugal but not Switzerland.

Switzerland and the EU have signed a broad package of bilateral agreements that will bring Switzerland closer than ever to its European neighbours.

The accords include economic, technical and social agreements but they still have to be approved by the parliaments of all EU member states and Switzerland.

During the negotiations of the accords, Portugal insisted that Switzerland upgrade the status of Portuguese workers in the country. Switzerland, in turn, tried to keep a tight lid on foreign workers entering the country under the now agreed free movement of people clause of the bilateral accords.

While the Portuguese media at times strongly criticised Switzerland’s hard stance, some Portuguese analysts described the dispute as having been blown out of proportion.

Switzerland and Portugal have diplomatic relations going back to the 19th century, but present-day economic relations, from a Swiss point of view, must be described as modest.

Exports to Portugal amount to about 0,7 percent of all Swiss exports, and imports make up about 0.4 percent. Swiss direct investments in Portugal totalled SFr 993 million ($662 million) last year.

From staff and wire reports.