In his first visit to the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nuno Sampaio spoke to Lusa on the sidelines of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on financing for development, in which he participated.

In a panel on debt and financing, Nuno Sampaio referred to Portugal's agreement with Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe to relieve bilateral debt in exchange for investments with environmental benefits in the same amount, with the agreement signed with Cape Verde providing for 12 million euros and that of São Tomé and Príncipe for 3.5 million euros.

"Portugal currently has a very interesting experience underway with Cape Verde of debt exchange, where the repayment of Cape Verde's debt will be converted, for now, in the amount of 12 million euros into a contribution to an environmental fund. This is a concrete way, but also sustainable and innovative, and it is with this type of solution that we have to address the issue of financing," defended the Secretary of State.

For Nuno Sampaio, "no country should be faced with the choice between paying its debt and being able to finance sustainable development, combating climate change and the transition to a digital world, which also poses enormous challenges to developing countries".

"We have this experience with Cape Verde. In fact, there is also an agreement in the same sense with São Tomé and Príncipe, and we want to extend it and make Portugal's contribution in these matters", he assumed.

In addition to participating in the ECOSOC Forum on financing for development under the theme "Towards the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4)", the Secretary of State also participated in an extended debate of the UN Security Council on sexual violence in conflicts and will also speak today at an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, organized by the Portuguese Mission to the UN.

"This is another happy coincidence: to be able to associate the 50 years of April 25th with this visit. And it is indeed a historical date, but we have to see it with a sense of the present and the future", he argued, noting that on Thursday, in Lisbon, "all the Heads of State of the Portuguese-speaking African countries will be present", with the "Lusophone world united around the celebration".

"Because April 25th meant Democracy for Portugal, but it also influenced the independence and transition to democracy in several countries. And, in the world we see, in so many places, a reversal of civil liberties and political freedoms, it is important that the values of April 25th are renewed and affirmed", he reinforced.

In a debate organized this week by UN News on the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, and with the presence of the permanent ambassadors to the UN from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Portugal and Timor-Leste, the diplomats were unanimous in pointing out as one of the priorities of the Lusophone bloc to elevate Portuguese to the status of an official UN language.

On this issue, Nuno Sampaio admitted that it is "an old goal" and that it "involves several issues, including financing", but stated that "certainly, the Portuguese Government will be committed to the maximum extent that everything that is the affirmation of Portugal, of Portuguese culture and language in the world can be affirmed".

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