The Institute for the Promotion of Latin America and the Caribbean (IPDAL) and the Embassy of Germany in Portugal jointly organized a private lunch with Catarina dos Santos-Wintz, a German-Portuguese member of the German Federal Parliament and President of the German-Portuguese Parliamentary Friendship Group in the Bundestag. The event was held under the Chatham House Rule and brought together diplomats, academics and institutional representatives.

The event began with remarks by Paulo Neves, President of IPDAL, who highlighted the importance of Portugal-Germany relations and the work developed by IPDAL together with the German Embassy, German foundations and various political and institutional actors. He emphasized the relevance of economic, business, community and cultural relations between the two countries, as well as the need to monitor political developments in Germany, marked by the electoral context and the debate surrounding military rearmament.

In her speech, Catarina dos Santos-Wintz praised IPDAL for its role in building bridges between peoples, cultures and communities, arguing that this mission now has a particularly relevant political dimension. In a context of weakening multilateral structures, she stressed that Europe must assert itself as a relevant geopolitical actor, identifying as priorities the strengthening of economic and industrial capacity, the reduction of bureaucracy, investment in infrastructure and technology, the integration of capital markets and the restoration of European credibility.

She also defended the need to transform the relationship between the European Union and its Global South partners into a concrete agenda, covering areas such as climate, digital affairs, health and development. In her view, Portugal is particularly well positioned in this field due to its proximity to countries in the Global South and its ties to the CPLP, Latin America and Africa. Within this framework, a structured German-Portuguese agenda for trilateral cooperation was proposed, involving institutions such as GIZ and the Camões Institute, with national and European funding aimed at startups, digital infrastructure, digital governance, secure digital identities and data management.