Lebanese-Portuguese relations

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Lebanese-Portuguese relations
Lebanese-Portuguese Relations (Europe)
Portugal
Portugal
Lebanon
Lebanon
PortugalPortugal LebanonLebanon
Portugal Lebanon

The Lebanese-Portuguese relations include the intergovernmental relationship between Lebanon and Portugal . The countries have had direct diplomatic relations since 1955.

Their relationships are considered good, but not very intense. The most important links are the common membership in EU forums of the European Neighborhood Policy , in particular the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and the Union for the Mediterranean , in addition to bilateral trade and a few historical reference points. There are also connections through cultural workers from both countries or through engagements by Portuguese NGOs in times of crisis in Lebanon (such as the Assistência Médica Internacional ).

In 2018, 440 Lebanese citizens were registered in Portugal, with 324 most of them in the region of the capital Lisbon. In 2009, 51 Portuguese were consularly registered in Lebanon.

history

Arab siege of the crusaders in Tripoli : Portuguese knights were also involved in the bloody crusades

The Phoenicians , who came from today's Lebanon, traded as far as Portugal, where they also had their own branches, up to Santa Olaia and even further north.

Today's Portugal was founded in 206 BC. Part of the Roman Empire , to which since 63 BC. BC also today's Lebanon belonged. They both remained under Roman rule until the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. Lebanon was then Eastern Roman until the Battle of Yarmuk in August 636, when Muslim Arabs conquered the region. From 711, Portugal was also conquered by the Arabs. Both areas then belonged to the Arab Empire until Portugal became an independent kingdom in the course of its Reconquista in 1139.

A large number of Portuguese knights also came to the Middle East as part of the Crusades . Knights from Portugal played a particularly important role in the Order of St. John the Hospitaller and later the Order of Malta. In today's Lebanon, the county of Tripoli was one of the crusader states until the crusaders were finally expelled from today's Lebanon around 1291. With that, the last Portuguese knights left the country.

While the independent kingdom of Portugal had been building its own world empire since the 15th century, Lebanon became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517 . With the beginning of the Portuguese expansion , the Portuguese conquerors saw themselves, in some cases, continuing to act in the spirit of the Crusades, as conquerors of the pillars of Heracles and thus of the western end of the Mediterranean as an extension of the eastern Mediterranean and the holy land. However, the Portuguese leadership turned its attention more and more to trade and operated it with Africa and especially Asia, so that there were hardly any direct points of contact between Portugal and today's Lebanon.

Lebanon remained Ottoman until the First World War and then came under French administration, until its formal independence in 1943 and the subsequent implementation of actual independence.

In 1955 Lebanon and Portugal entered into diplomatic relations, and in 1962 Portugal opened its own embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut. In April 1957 , José de Bivar Brandeiro , Portugal's ambassador in Cairo , was the first Portuguese ambassador to be accredited to Lebanon .

Relations were broken on March 7, 1974, before resuming on August 2, 1975, following the 1974 Carnation Revolution and the subsequent overthrow of the authoritarian Estado Novo regime in Portugal.

In connection with the 2006 Lebanon War, the Portuguese Air Force evacuated Portuguese citizens from Lebanon. Subsequently, Portugal was involved in the reconstruction of Lebanon, in particular the Portuguese military , which was active in both military training and civil reconstruction of roads and bridges. In May 2007, 141 members of a Portuguese pioneer unit left for Lebanon, where they relieved a first Portuguese contingent.

diplomacy

Lebanon does not have its own embassy in Portugal; the Lebanese ambassador in the Italian capital Rome is responsible. Lebanon maintains an honorary consulate in the northern Portuguese city of Porto .

Portugal also does not have its own embassy in Lebanon, the country belongs to the administrative district of the Portuguese ambassador in Cyprus . A Portuguese honorary consulate has been set up in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Tanker truck for the Portuguese Galp at Lajes Air Base : Fuels and other oil products are Portugal's most important single export goods to Lebanon, from where animal fats go to Portugal as the most important single export goods.

economy

Bilateral trade is still comparatively low, but is growing steadily. In 2017, the trade volume between Lebanon and Portugal amounted to 103.826 million euros (2013: 32.487 million), with a trade surplus in favor of Portugal of 85.205 million euros (2013: 31.234 million). This put Lebanon in 48th place as a buyer and 102nd as a supplier in Portuguese foreign trade, while Portugal was in 53rd place as a buyer and 40th as a supplier in Lebanese foreign trade. 398 Portuguese companies exported to Lebanon in 2016 (2013: 302).

In 2017, Portugal exported goods worth 94.516 million euros to Lebanon ( 2016 : 47.524 million euros, 2015 : 39.777 million; 2014 : 33.440 million; 2013 : 31.861 million), 51.6% of which were fuels and oil products , 12.0% minerals and ores, 7.4% paper and cellulose, 4.9% machines and devices, and 3.4% plastics and rubber.

In the same period, Lebanon delivered goods worth 9.310 million euros to Portugal ( 2016 : 7.604 million, 2015 : 3.773 million; 2014 : 1.735 million; 2013 : 0.626 million), of which 44.1% were hides and leather , 40.2% agricultural products, 8.6% metal goods, 3.8% plastics and rubber, and 1.5% chemical-pharmaceutical products.

The Portuguese Chamber of Commerce AICEP does not have its own contact office in Lebanon, it looks after Lebanon from its office in Cyprus.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Overview of diplomatic relations with Lebanon at the Diplomatic Institute in the Portuguese Foreign Ministry , accessed on March 24, 2020
  2. ^ Alfredo Cunha , Luís Pedro Nunes: Toda a Esperança do Mundo. , Porto Editora , Porto 2015 ( ISBN 978-972-0-04780-9 ), p. 304
  3. ↑ Official Portuguese Aliens Statistics by District , Portuguese Aliens and Borders Authority SEF, accessed on March 24, 2020
  4. ↑ Website on Lebanese-Portuguese migration (Table A.3) at the Portuguese Scientific Observatório da Emigração , accessed on March 24, 2020
  5. ↑ a b Fernando Cristóvão (Ed.): Dicionário Temático da Lusofonia. Texto Editores, Lisbon / Luanda / Praia / Maputo 2006, p. 786 ( ISBN 972-47-2935-4 )
  6. ↑ Embaixador de Portugal no Chipre prepara viagem de refugiados - "Portuguese ambassador in Cyprus prepares the refugees' journey" , article from July 26, 2006 on the website of the RTP television station , accessed on March 24, 2020
  7. ↑ Rendição no Líbano - “ Redemption in Lebanon” , article of May 4, 2007 in the Correio da Manhã newspaper , accessed on March 24, 2020
  8. ↑ Diplomatic contacts of Portugal in Lebanon in the portal of the Portuguese Foreign Ministry for Portuguese Abroad and travelers, accessed on March 24, 2020
  9. ↑ a b Bilateral economic relations between Portugal and Lebanon , PDF file available from the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce AICEP , accessed on March 25, 2020