Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

President Sampaio,
Rector Manuel Patricio,
Professor Adriano Moreira,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a great honour to be invited here today to address this esteemed audience on such a relevant topic. Our title speaks of societies which are at once plural and peaceful—a goal which is important but also elusive. For even our best efforts to combine stability with modernity seem to be constantly disrupted.

With news of how the country means to recover the devastation of last summer’s forest fires updating by the day, one of the latest highlights is a donation of €100,000 for reforestation efforts from the Aga Khan’s Ismaili community, based in Lisbon.

The offer was announced yesterday (Thursday), with the money going towards reforesting Leiria’s ‘mata nacional’ - one of the areas worst hit by the fires that are now thought to have killed as many as 50 people in October (see below).

His Highness the Aga Khan and Portuguese President Cavaco Silva arrive at the Castle of São Jorge in Lisbon for the presentation ceremony for the 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
AKDN / Gary Otte

20 July 2017

Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa today presented the Aga Khan with the Gra-cruz da ordem de Liberdade in recognition of his service to uplifting lives around the world. Earlier in the day, the Aga Khan received an Honorary Doctorate from the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.

Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa bestowed the Aga Khan with this honour during a ceremony held at Lisbon’s Belem Palace.

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Your Excellency President Professor Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Your Excellency Vice-President of the Parliament Jorge Lacão   
Honorable Rector of the NOVA University, Professor António Rendas
President of the NOVA University’s General Council, Professor Arantes e Oliveira 
Patron of the Doctorate, Francisco Pinto Balsemão
Members of the Diplomatic Corps 
Excellencies
Distinguished Guests

Lisbon, Portugal, 20 July 2017 - His Highness the Aga Khan today received one of Portugal’s highest honours – the Gra-cruz da ordem de Liberdade, or Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty – in recognition of his service to uplifting lives around the world. Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa bestowed the Aga Khan with this honour during a ceremony held at Lisbon’s Belem Palace.

The leader of the Ismaili community, Prince Aga Khan, is to receive the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the New University of Lisbon today, with the Portuguese president and the former prime minister Pinto Balsemão in attendance.
The distinction will be bestowed by New University António Rendas as part of the Aga Khan’s Diamond Jubilee of his 60 years as a hereditary imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslim community.

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa in Portugal is honouring Mawlana Hazar Imam with a doctorate honoris causa that was presented to him on Thursday, 20 July 2017.

In his acceptance remarks, Hazar Imam said, "I have always felt at home in Portugal and now ever more so since the signing in 2015 of an historic agreement between the Ismaili Imamat and the Portuguese Republic to establish the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat in this country. An important milestone in the 1400 year history of the Ismaili Imamat."

Lisbon, Portugal, 19 June 2017 - His Highness the Aga Khan today announced a contribution of Euros 500,000 towards the support of victims of the deadly forest fire in Pedrógão Grande in central Portugal. The fire left more than 60 people dead and several more injured.

His Excellency Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Portuguese Republic, visited the Ismaili Centre, Lisbon on 29 April 2017, where he received a warm welcome from hundreds of members of the Portuguese Jamat.
Ismaili Girl and Boy Scouts lined a red carpet at the entrance of the Ismaili Centre, where President Marcelo was greeted upon his arrival by Rahim Firozali, President of the Ismaili Council for Portugal, Nazim Ahmad, Diplomatic Representative of the Ismaili Imamat to the Portuguese Republic, and senior officials of the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat.

The exquisite Henrique Mendonça Palace in Portugal has been acquired by HRH the Prince Karim Aga Khan for a reported 12 million euros.

The stunning complex currently houses offices of the New School of Business & Economics (SBE), and could potentially serve as the global headquarters for the Aga Khan himself.

H.H. The Aga Khan acquires Palace to establish Global Seat of Imamat in Portugal 2016-04-18

Since ancient times, great cultures have thrived because of their openness to diversity, and not because of their exclusivity. It was to address this issue that the Government of Canada and I created a new Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa in 2006.

Lisbon, Portugal, 12 May 2016 – His Highness the Aga Khan is in Portugal for his first visit since a landmark agreement establishing the global Seat of the Ismaili Imamat in Portugal came into effect.

Yesterday, the Aga Khan – Imam (leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and founder and Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) – met with Foreign Affairs Minister Augusto Santos Silva before meeting with the President of the Portuguese Republic, His Excellency Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who also hosted a private dinner in his honour.

ISMAILI IMAMAT AGREEMENT WITH PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT

Both Parties assume, as common objectives, the defence of human dignity, economic and social development, interfaith dialogue and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, as ways of achieving justice and peace;
Affirming the interest of both Parties in the establishment of the Seat of the Ismaili Imamat in the territory of the Portuguese Republic and their common will mutually to respect each other’s autonomy in the context of the mutual trust and esteem which has traditionally characterised their relationship;
Agree as follows:

The Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Rui Machete, received today the leader of the Ismaili community, Prince Aga Khan, for a working lunch followed by the signing of an agreement between Portugal and the Ismaili Imamat.

O príncipe Aga Khan admite investir na saúde e em serviços de protecção social em Portugal. O PÚBLICO sabe que no discurso que o líder da comunidade Ismaili profere ao princípio da tarde desta quarta-feira no Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, após a assinatura do acordo que estabelece a sede global da sua comunidade em Portugal, essa questão será referida.

Lisbon, June 3rd 2015 -- Portugal’s Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Rui Machete and His Highness the Aga Khan today signed a landmark Agreement between the Republic of Portugal and the Ismaili Imamat for the establishment of a formal Seat of the Ismaili Imamat in Portugal. The Agreement marks the first such accord in the Imamat’s modern history. It will come into effect once it has been approved by Portugal’s Parliament and ratified by the President of the Portuguese Republic.