The International Club of Lisbon, a club which is devoted towards fostering relationships between Portugal and other countries, continents and peoples, has returned under new management and new name – International Club of Portugal.
The club, which is presided over by President Manuel Ramalho, has received numerous high profile luncheon speakers over the past few years, including António Carmona Rodrigues, former Lisbon mayor, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, former minister of finance, Luís Amado, former foreign minister, José Catroga and Vítor Bento, both economists, Pedro Santana Lopes, one-time prime minister, and Paulo Portas, current foreign minister.
Unlike the various chambers of commerce in Lisbon, the club’s stated aim is to “gather diversity, generate creativity, through persons, institutions and different countries and continents.”
At its Christmas Dinner held in Lisbon on December 9, António Gonçalves, director, stated that Lisbon was not just an attractive and inviting destination for many citizens from all over the world; it integrated, like Portugal, many cultures, thanks to secular social exchanges and diplomacy which was open to the world.
He said Portugal was a privileged place to work and invest, attracting multinational companies that found a privileged place from which to operate; and communities living and working here from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia.
The ICPT aims to create a platform for organisations, societies, and cultures which can translate into an interaction between different peoples, regardless of ethnicity, culture, religious background or nationality.
It also aims to foster and encourage not only great changes in Portugal and other countries, created by science and technology, markets and the economy, but also culture, international changes and alterations in relationship patterns between countries.
The creation of a platform for a global vision and attitude so as to safeguard diversity and the competitiveness of interests, as well as equity, fairness, justice, social responsibility, and the development at different rates, locally, nationally and internationally.
“The ICPT will do everything to foster interaction, placing value on what unites us rather than divides us, building bridges between the gulfs that separate us,” he said.
“We cannot let ourselves be dragged down by the serious crisis that the world is confronting, which involves not just economic problems but also problems involving the structure of humanity,” he added.
“The International Club of Portugal is more than a project, it is a cause in which we believe,” he said.
The club’s next lunch will take place on January 19 at the Hotel Fontana Park at 12:15pm when the guest speaker will be the President of the Portuguese Industrial Confederation, António Saraiva, who will talk on the subject of The Need for Growth.
