The Organization of Ibero-American States awards a medal of honor to the President of Portugal

16 Feb. () –

The Secretary General of the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), Mariano Jabonero, presented this Thursday to the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a medal of honor for his role in consolidating the Ibero-American space.

During his delivery in a ceremony at the Belém Palace, residence of the president, Jabonero highlighted his role as guarantor of cooperation between the OEI and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), as well as his promotion of the two official languages of the organism: Spanish and Portuguese.

For his part, Rebelo de Sousa has highlighted that the award is a recognition for Portugal, which works “always with its eyes on Latin America” ​​while promoting both Portuguese and Spanish as “two sister languages”, as reported in a statement the agency.

The distinction, delivered by Jabonero to the Portuguese president, had not been awarded since 2006, and highlights Portugal’s contribution to “innovative” processes such as the Conference
International of Portuguese and Spanish Languages ​​(CILPE), whose first edition was held in the capital, Lisbon, in 2019.

The same award has also been given to the Mexican diplomat Alicia Barcena in recognition of the “mark that she left in the development process of the countries of the region” in the Commission
Economy for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL).