Portugal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Visits TUFS and Meets with Students

June 20, 2022

On Thursday, June 9, 2022, Mr. Francisco André, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited TUFS.

His visit started with a courtesy call on President Kayoko Hayashi, and then a meeting with Vice President Chika Takeda, Associate Professor Lucio de Souza, and Lecturer Osamu Mizunuma. At this meeting, the Secretary of State spoke about further cooperation in the dispatch of Portuguese language teachers, as proposed by the Portuguese Ambassador to Japan during his visit to TUFS on May 25.

After the courtesy visit, the Secretary of State met with the TUFS student group Estudamos Português!*. The Secretary of State took an interest in the brochures and other materials produced by the students and listened attentively to their explanations of their activities. Afterwards, the students led the group on a tour of the campus, where they visited the TUFS Archives on the first floor of the library to view exhibits and videos about the history of TUFS.

After the tour, the Secretary of State met with about 50 students majoring in Portuguese. This was a valuable opportunity for the students to ask questions directly to the Secretary of State in Portuguese.

*Estudamos Português! was founded in September 2018 to promote the Portuguese language and culture and exchanges between students studying Portuguese and people from Portuguese-speaking countries.