Message from the Chairman of the Board of the General Assembly

Portuguese-speaking jurisdictions occupy a unique place geographically, sociologically, economically, and politically, in global terms. They occupy 7.2% of the Earth’s landmass (148,939,063 km2) and are spread over four continents: Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. In this space, officially reside 258,466,109 inhabitants and the combined GDP of the aforementioned jurisdictions corresponds to 2.7 billion USD.

In this context, it is undeniable to affirm that the Portuguese language space has remarkable world importance. The strength of the Portuguese-speaking jurisdictions in those quadrants (geographic, sociological, economic, and political) makes them one of the world’s great powers if considered collectively.

In this context of emerging disputes between Portuguese-speaking jurisdictions, the traditional barriers to be overcome emerge: determining the competent court to resolve the dispute and choosing the law applicable to the merits of the dispute. In this context, alternative means of dispute resolution offer a solution when compared to judicial courts, allowing to overcome, with the agreement of the parties, those difficulties.

In the Plan of Action of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (2017-2019) agreed “4.4 The Ministers reiterated their support for taking advantage of Macao’s comparative advantages in the knowledge of the legal systems of China and Portuguese-speaking countries, including its promotion as one of the places of arbitration for the resolution of possible conflicts arising from trade between entrepreneurs from the Participating Countries of the Macao Forum.”

The aims of the Association will therefore be, in general terms, to promote the resolution of disputes of Portuguese-speaking parties within the Portuguese-speaking world itself, that is, to foster the resolution of Portuguese-speaking disputes “indoor”, which will benefit the parties in dispute and promote job opportunities for legal operators of the jurisdictions involved.

The promotion of dispute resolution between Portuguese-speaking Countries and non-Portuguese-speaking Countries parties within the Portuguese-speaking Countries world will also be a goal of the association.

The Chairman of the Board of the General Assembly,

Dr. Leonel Alves