Society 379

A place for exchange
and cooperation
In an interview with SOCIETY Magazine, César Valentim
Rodrigues, president of the Austrian-Portuguese
Association (ÖPG), spoke about the association’s goals,
future ambitions and its many offers.
You have been the president of the
Austrian-Portuguese Association
since 2019 – what are the association’s
goals under your chairmanship?
Our association is dedicated to
strengthening bilateral relations and
cultural understanding, sharing knowledge
and promoting Portugal in Austria
and vice versa. My goal is to create
a welcoming place for the Portuguese
citizens in Vienna as well as a chance
for cultural exchange with Austrian
Portugal-lovers. The ÖPG should be a
place where the connection between
the two countries becomes part of our
daily life. Additionally, it is important
to mention that we try to embrace all
Portuguese speaking countries in our
activities. For the future, we hope to
enforce language exchange and cultural
exchange even more, to attract
more members and to build a legacy.
I would really like to have more young
people involved with the association;
at times it can be difficult to work with
children and teenagers because they
do not identify with Portugal as much,
especially if they were born and raised
in Austria. Before Covid-19, we counted
170 memberships – some of them
family memberships –, now with many
events being cancelled the number of
active members has dropped noti-
Fotos: SOCIETY/Pobaschnig
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