Maria Joaquina Matos, Mayor of Lagos, was distinguished with the title of Honorary Citizen of Cidade Velha, in the commemorations of the Day of the Municipality of Ribeira Grande de Santiago (Old City). On this trip to Cape Verde, the mayor, who was once a teacher, was also named “godmother” of a school.
The attribution, which took place on January 31st – Day of the Municipality of Ribeira Grande de Santiago -, is, according to that municipality, given annually to relevant people in the areas of Politics, Culture, Sports, Economy and Society , both domestic and foreign, who have contributed and supported the development of Cidade Velha.
The titles were handed over during the solemn session of the Municipal Assembly on the Day of the Municipality of Ribeira Grande de Santiago, a town better known as the “Old City”, a World Heritage Site since 2009.
The ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of Cape Verde José Maria Neves, Mayor of Ribeira Grande de Santiago, Manuel Monteiro de Pina, President of the Municipal Assembly of Ribeira Grande de Santiago, Domingos Veiga Mendes, Ambassador of Portugal Bernardo Lucena, municipal and national deputies, mayors and other institutional representatives.
In addition to the mayor of Lagos, the municipality of Ribeira Grande de Santiago assigned the same status to the mayor of Moura, Santiago Macias, the Cape Verdean prime minister, José Maria Neves, the former head of government Gualberto do Rosário and the journalist from Cape Verdean Radio, António Silva Roque.
In her speech, Maria Joaquina Matos thanked the distinction she received and praised the close relations between Lagos (Portugal) and Ribeira Grande de Santiago (Old City), recalling that "they have lasted for some years."
In April 2010 a Twinning Agreement was signed which, according to the president, “reinforces the Cooperation and Collaboration Agreement, established in August 2006, thus symbolically embodying the ties of the historic past that we shared, in the deepening of established institutional relations , from the knowledge of local cultural identities, traditions, customs and historical memories that we have lived over several centuries”.
Joaquina Matos ended his speech leaving the commitment that the existing twinning agreement would be reinforced (initiated by his predecessor in the Lagos municipality, Júlio Barroso) and leaving the certainty that “our political orientation towards twinnings will continue to to privilege Lusophony, for the past that unites us, and for the present and future that we need to conquer together”.
During this trip to Cape Verde, Maria Joaquina Matos was also named “godmother” of the EBI (Basic School of Education) of Calabaceira de Cidade Velha.
The mayor, accompanied by the mayor of Ribeira Grande de Santiago Manuel Monteiro de Pina, visited the town of Calabaceira, where she distributed 48 “school kits” to the students of that school.
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