“We have been working with the Brazilian government. There is a lot of desire on both sides, but we also have concerns, which is to protect all the work we have done during these 18 months” of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Secretary of State Rita Marques.

Speaking to Lusa, on the sidelines of the 5th Global Conference on Wine Tourism promoted by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), which took place in the Alentejo village of Monsaraz, the government official noted that the recognition of Brazilian certificates is a “complex” issue .

"It's being worked on, but they have several certificates, they don't have a document like we have in Europe, a single document with a 'QR Code' that guarantees security and privacy issues," he explained.

The bilateral work aims to find "a register that promotes the entry of these citizens" in Portugal, "but always safeguarding security issues", he stressed.

“Even the European Commission itself has been doing this work, not only with Brazil, but with other third countries, including the United Kingdom”, he said.

According to Rita Marques, there is “a political issue” and “a political will” well identified so that the two countries can “reproximate”, but there are still “technical issues that have to be defined and resolved”.

In addition to Brazil, Portugal is “working with all the third countries that are important” and with which there is “a strong commercial relationship, and not only commercial one”, but without forgetting the directives valid for the Member States of the European Union (HUH).

“Portugal is part of the EU, therefore, it has scrupulously complied with all the rules and recommendations that the European Commission issues with regard to health security”, he stressed.

Aware of the importance that Brazil has for Portugal in terms of tourism, having grown in 2019 "more than 10%" compared to 2018, in addition to having "a fundamental role in managing the seasonality" of national tourism activity, the Secretary of State recalled that, at the moment, these visitors may enter the country with a negative SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus test.

"We decided to open up to the Brazilian market by presenting the test because we thought that this should be the safest, most efficient, most effective way to, in compliance with EU recommendations, open up to important markets, as is the case with the Brazilian market" , he said, arguing that carrying out the test “is a lesser evil for the tourist experience” that these tourists will have in Portugal.

The OMT conference that ended today in Monsaraz, in the municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz, began on Thursday and was promoted with the support of Turismo de Portugal and the Alentejo chamber.