{"id":14338,"date":"2026-06-25T22:09:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T22:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/?p=14338"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T22:22:14","slug":"tonga-consul-general-visits-the-atlantic-centre-at-portugals-ministry-of-national-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/tonga-consul-general-visits-the-atlantic-centre-at-portugals-ministry-of-national-defence\/","title":{"rendered":"Tonga Consul-General visits the Atlantic Centre at Portugal’s Ministry of National Defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonga Consul-General Visits the Atlantic Centre at Portugal’s Ministry of National Defence<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 23 June 2026, Comendador Anthony Bailey, Honorary Consul-General of His Majesty The King of Tonga to the Portuguese Republic, paid a courtesy visit to the Atlantic Centre at the Portuguese Ministry of National Defence in Lisbon.<\/p>\n

The Hon. Consul-General was warmly welcomed by Rear Admiral Nuno de Noronha Bragan\u00e7a, Coordinator of the Atlantic Centre, together with Francisco de Arantes e Oliveira, Senior Policy Adviser.<\/p>\n

During the visit, Rear Admiral Noronha Bragan\u00e7a delivered a comprehensive presentation outlining the Atlantic Centre’s mission, strategic priorities and growing international role in promoting cooperation amongst Atlantic nations and partners. The Atlantic Centre is a Portuguese-led international initiative that brings together governments, defence institutions, academia and international organisations to strengthen cooperation across the Atlantic. Its work is organised around three principal pillars: as a leading think tank supporting research and policy development; as a platform for political dialogue to identify common challenges, share best practice and promote international cooperation; and through defence capacity-building, providing education, training and doctrine to strengthen maritime security and responsible sovereignty amongst Atlantic states.<\/p>\n

The Centre also undertakes important work in areas including maritime domain awareness, cyber security, space-based information, the monitoring of transnational threats, project development and international cooperation. Although its permanent headquarters are being established on Terceira Island in the Azores, at the heart of the North Atlantic, the Centre is currently operating from the Portuguese Ministry of National Defence in Lisbon.<\/p>\n

The meeting provided an excellent opportunity to exchange views on the opportunities and challenges facing the Kingdom of Tonga as one of the Pacific’s leading maritime nations. Although separated by many thousands of kilometres, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans face many of the same challenges, including maritime security, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, the impacts of climate change, disaster preparedness, the sustainable management of marine resources and the protection of the global maritime environment.<\/p>\n

The Hon. Consul-General outlined Tonga’s unique place within the Pacific. The Kingdom is the only country in the Pacific never to have been colonised and is currently marking the 150th anniversary year of its Constitution of 1875, the oldest written constitution in the Pacific. Tonga is also home to the Pacific’s only surviving indigenous monarchy, whose unbroken monarchical tradition stretches back for more than one thousand years. These unique characteristics continue to shape the Kingdom’s national identity and its active engagement in regional and international affairs.<\/p>\n

Both sides recognised that, despite the geographical distance between the Atlantic and the Pacific, island and coastal states increasingly face common strategic challenges. Discussions explored opportunities to develop closer cooperation between the Atlantic Centre and the Kingdom of Tonga, creating stronger links between the Atlantic and Pacific through the exchange of knowledge, policy dialogue, education, capacity-building and cooperation on maritime affairs.<\/p>\n

The meeting also highlighted the growing relationship between the Kingdom of Tonga and the Portuguese Republic. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on 1 November 2008 and have continued to develop steadily. The Hon. Consul-General welcomed the forthcoming accreditation of Her Excellency Carla Louren\u00e7o Sarago\u00e7a, resident in Canberra, as Portugal’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Tonga, further strengthening the close and friendly relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n

Following the meeting, the Hon. Consul-General said:<\/p>\n

“It was a great pleasure to visit the Atlantic Centre and to receive such an informative presentation from Rear Admiral Nuno de Noronha Bragan\u00e7a and Francisco de Arantes e Oliveira. I was deeply impressed by the Centre’s vision and by the important work it is undertaking to strengthen cooperation, dialogue and capacity-building across the Atlantic.<\/em><\/p>\n

As a Pacific island nation, Tonga understands that the challenges facing our oceans do not stop at geographical boundaries. Maritime security, climate resilience, sustainable ocean governance, disaster preparedness and the protection of our marine environment are truly global responsibilities. Although the Pacific and Atlantic are separated by great distances, they are united by many common interests and shared challenges.<\/em><\/p>\n

I firmly believe that there is enormous value in building stronger links between our two oceanic regions. I very much hope that this visit marks the beginning of a close and productive relationship between the Atlantic Centre and the Kingdom of Tonga, creating new opportunities for dialogue, cooperation and the exchange of knowledge that will benefit both the Atlantic and the Pacific for many years to come.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Atlantic Centre:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.defesa.gov.pt\/pt\/pdefesa\/ac<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AtlanticCentrePortugal<\/a><\/p>\n

LinkedIn: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/atlantic-centre-portugal<\/a><\/p>\n

#TongaPortugal #AtlanticCentre #AtlanticPacific #MaritimeSecurity #OceanGovernance #ClimateResilience #BlueEconomy #Atlantic #Pacific #Portugal #Tonga #AnthonyBaileyEU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonga Consul-General Visits the Atlantic Centre at Portugal’s Ministry of National Defence On 23 June 2026, Comendador Anthony Bailey, Honorary Consul-General of His Majesty The King of Tonga to the Portuguese Republic, paid a courtesy visit to the Atlantic Centre at the Portuguese Ministry of National Defence in Lisbon. The Hon. Consul-General was warmly welcomed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"image_01":14340,"image_02":"","image_03":"","image_04":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14338"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14342,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14338\/revisions\/14342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}