Portugal officially recognized the State of Palestine this Sunday, through a statement by the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, from the headquarters of his country’s mission to the United Nations.

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“Today, September 21, 2025, the Portuguese State officially recognizes the State of Palestine,” said Rangel, after the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada also took that step this Sunday, while France and five other countries are expected to do so tomorrow.

The Portuguese Foreign Minister stressed that on this day that Portugal recognizes the State of Palestine and reaffirms its willingness to strengthen “the deep and ancient” relations of friendship with the Israeli people and the “renewed and auspicious” ties with the Palestinian people, he urges “from the bottom of his heart” for a cessation of hostilities and the entry of humanitarian aid.

“The Portuguese Government symbolically chose to make this declaration at the permanent representation of Portugal to the UN – he added – precisely to indicate that only under the aegis of the United Nations and the spirit of its founding charter is it possible to reach a solution to the conflict, that the hostages are released, that a ceasefire begins, that the borders are opened to humanitarian aid…”

He explained that the recognition of Palestine was approved three days ago by the Portuguese Council of Ministers after a process of consultations with the parties and with the agreement of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The minister detailed that there is unanimity among the parties in Portugal to support the two-state solution, as a future solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and recalled that this reflects the “constant and consensual” line of the Iberian country’s foreign policy.

He added that the recognition of Palestine occurs because the conditions imposed by his government to take this step have been met: first, that Portugal would only adopt the decision with a group of Western states and that the declaration had a “useful, tangible and consistent” effect.

The latter, he stressed, is reflected in the document that came out of the High-level Conference, supported by the UN General Assembly, where three pillars are established.

The recognition this Sunday by the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Portugal comes on the eve of an “international conference for a two-state solution” to be held on Monday at the UN General Assembly in New York.

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