{"id":10855,"date":"2021-12-16T14:49:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit"},"modified":"2021-12-16T14:57:38","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:57:38","slug":"portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit","title":{"rendered":"Portugal wants EU air links with all Africa resumed by February summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>Portugal has argued for the importance of the European Union resuming air links with the entire African continent as soon as possible, not least to ensure the success of the next joint EU-African Union summit, according to its minister of foreign affairs, Augusto Santos Silva.<\/p>\n

Speaking to journalists after taking part in a meeting of EU foreign ministers to prepare for the EU-AU summit, which has been postponed from 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and is now scheduled take place in Brussels in February 2022, Santos Silva said that the ministers were fully aware of \u201chow penalising for the preparation of the summit would be the perpetuation of the current suspension\u201d of flights.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very important that we can get to the summit with the African Union with our links, including air links, with the entire African continent re-established and normalised,\u201d Santos Silva said, reiterating the view that the decision to suspend them was an \u201cextreme\u201d measure, but of a provisional nature, and that Portugal considers it is no longer justified, now that more is known about the new coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, Omicron, which had prompted the EU decision.<\/p>\n

Santos Silva pointed out that \u201cPortugal, faithful to its policy of seeking consensus within the EU, accepted [on 4 December] that there would be a temporary suspension of flights [from] southern Africa to allow the scientific and health authorities some time\u201d to better answer questions about the new variant and the problems it could cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the information has been received and our worst fears have fortunately not been fulfilled, several member states have taken the logical decision: France has already resumed its flights, Portugal will resume its flights and I imagine many other member states will do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The minister said that Portugal had taken the decision to resume commercial flights with Mozambique because there was now information available that EU member states did not have when they decided on the temporary suspension, namely that \u201cthe precautionary measures put in place \u2013 testing on board, testing on arrival and quarantine \u2013 are sufficient to control the spread of the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recalling that Mozambique is the only country in southern Africa with which Portugal has direct flights, he reiterated the government\u2019s intention to resume them \u201cas soon as possible\u201d and that an order to that effect would be in effect \u201cshortly\u201d. Among other EU foreign ministers, he stressed, no one opposed the decision of Portugal or of other members that advocated links be resumed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one in the room expressed reservation to what I and others said: that it was necessary to resume the area connections as soon as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cThe foreign ministers understand very well how critical this issue is and how damaging it would be to the preparation of the summit with the EU if the current suspension were to be perpetuated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos Silva acknowledged, however, that \u201cevidently the foreign affairs ministers\u2019 perspective cannot be confused with that of the entire government\u201d so a discussion is also needed involving ministers of health and of interior, for example, \u201cfor a collective decision that takes into account all points of view and all concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the discussion on the EU-AU summit, the Portuguese minister argued that \u201cit is very important that this summit has results, and concrete results, namely in the different areas of cooperation between the two continents\u201d already identified \u201cand which the Kigali ministerial meeting last November confirmed: in the area of the economy, employment, investments, in the area of migration and [travel], in the area of peace, security and stability, and also in the area of climate and digital transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very important that we can also come to the summit with an acceleration of the vaccine donation process to Africa from the EU side, since the level of vaccination that exists today in Africa, a little over seven percent of the total population, is unacceptable,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cconcrete acts are also needed with regard to support for vaccine production plants to be located in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mozambique<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. Portugal has argued for the importance of the European Union resuming air links with the entire African continent as soon as possible, not least to ensure the success of the next joint EU-African Union summit, according to its minister of foreign affairs, Augusto Santos Silva. Speaking to journalists after taking part in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-10855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nPortugal wants EU air links with all Africa resumed by February summit - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Portugal has argued for the importance of the European Union resuming air links with the entire African continent as soo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Portugal wants EU air links with all Africa resumed by February summit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Portugal has argued for the importance of the European Union resuming air links with the entire African continent as soo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-16T14:49:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-16T14:57:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2021\/12\/img-61bb53043acf6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1262\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"842\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Portugal wants EU air links with all Africa resumed by February summit\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-16T14:49:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-16T14:57:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit\"},\"wordCount\":702,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2021\/12\/img-61bb53043acf6.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mozambique\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/policy\/portugal-wants-eu-air-links-with-all-africa-resumed-by-february-summit\",\"name\":\"Portugal wants EU air links with all Africa resumed by February summit - 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