LIHUE — Ambassador of Portugal Francisco Duarte Lopes from Washington, D.C., and the Consul General of Portugal in San Francisco Filipe Ramalheira stopped off at the County of Kauai on a courtesy visit because of the Portuguese descendant population on the Garden Island.
The pair of Portuguese officials are in Hawaii for a week’s visit, and departed Oahu for a day trip to Kauai where they met with the Kauai County Council and Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami before returning to Oahu and the continuation of their Hawaiian trip.
During their visit on Tuesday that came following a wrap-up of budget hearings by the council, Lopes became engrossed with studying the council portraits through the history of Kauai.
“There are a lot of Portuguese people here,” the ambassador said. “As we landed, I couldn’t help but wonder what they thought when they first arrived in Hawaii.”
According to online sources, the Portuguese started immigrating to Hawaii in significant number between 1878 and 1913, primarily from Madeira and the Azores to work on sugar plantations. There were some Portuguese individuals living in Hawaii before 1878 who deserted whaling ships that stopped in Hawaii. The large immigration started in 1878 when at least 24 ships brought nearly 16,000 people to the Hawaiian Islands between 1878 and 1911.
Council Chair Mel Rapozo talked about his son’s visit to Portugal and the similarities between Portugal and Hawaii.
That conversation triggered talks of trying to establish sister city relationships with townships in Portugal similar to sister city relationship Kauai enjoys with Japan and the Philippines.
A sister city relationship, according to online sources, is a formal, long-term partnership between two communities in different countries that is aimed at fostering mutual understanding, cooperation and peace through people-to-people interactions and cultural exchange.
Lopes has served as Portugal’s ambassador to the United States since 2022. Prior to that, he served as permanent representative of Portugal to the United Nations since 2017. Lopes also served at Portugal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lisbon where he was promoted to the rank of ambassador in 2015. He holds a law degree from the Faculdade de Direito de Lisboa.
Ramalheira holds a degree in law from the University of Coimbra, and an MBA in International Business from the University of Geneva. He also holds post-graduate degrees in European Law from the University of Coimbra, and Political Science and International Relations from the Catholic University of Lisbon.
A career diplomat, Ramalheira represented Portugal to the WTO and other economic organizations in Geneva, including WIPO, UNCTAD, UNECE and WEF.
Ramalheira also served as Deputy Head of Mission at the Portuguese Embassy in Ottawa and both as Mertens and Antici Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union in Brussels.
