"My father (author Orlando Costa) wrote in Portuguese. But all his stories were about India. I wasn't born in this country, yet it is my legacy in a continent so far away,'' said Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, at a function organsied by two leading think tanks — the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and Carnegie India. Costa will be the chief guest at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, held in Bangalore.
Costa's father hailed from Goa. He is the first European head of state of Indian origin. He said that his presence in India at this juncture was significant, not just for the past ties between India and Portugal, but also for the future relations between the two countries. Costa, who visited Raj Ghat earlier on Saturday, will be flying to Bangalore to inaugurate Sunday's events along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
His itenerary includes a visit to his ancestral house in Margao, Goa, where he will spend private time with his Indian cousins. This will be his second visit to his roots — he first visited the Costa house as a teenager. However, before that, Costa will attend the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.
The Portuguese prime minister, who arrived with senior ministers and a business delegation, is keen to strengthen economic ties with India, and spoke of the need to bring about a cohesiveness in the interactions between Portuguese speaking countries. Portugal, one of the first colonisers, has influence in Africa, Asia and South America. He mentioned that Portuguese was the official language of 32 organisations and that he wanted to make it one of the languages in the United Nations. "Portugese has 260 million consumers in the language market. It has a huge economic and social potential. By 2050, there should be 380 million speakers of Portuguese, which is the fifth most used language on the internet and the third most used language on Facebook.'' Over 30 universities in China teach Portuguese as a language.
Noting that India and Portugal had business ties since the 1500s, he said that it was time to energise the sector, with tie up in strategic areas as well as in defence and infrastructure industries.
Costa noted that the association with India was importance not just for its past links, but also because India was already a major power.
