Portugal’s Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, has appointed former Minister of State and Presidency Nuno Morais Sarmento to chair the Board of Directors of FLAD – the Luso-American Development Foundation. The information was obtained by the newspaper Expresso from the government.

Nuno Morais Sarmento, who was the first vice-president of the PSD in 2002 and a minister in the Durão Barroso and Santana Lopes governments, will succeed Rita Faden, who was António Costa’s chief of staff and had been chosen to chair FLAD in 2019. The former government official will take office on August 1st.

The remaining three to five members of the Board of Directors will be appointed at a later date, according to Expresso, following a proposal from FLAD’s Board of Trustees. The statutes of the private institution, which was created by the Portuguese state, state that the Prime Minister can choose the chairman of the Board of Directors, who is also chairman of the Executive Board.

In Expresso

Note from Novidades: in full transparency, The Luso-American Development Foundation has been a partner with PBBI-Fresno State. FLAD has also been a partner to an array of community-based organizations and to other academic institutions throughout the US.

Mission–From the FLAD website

Every day we work to promote the development of Portugal in cooperation with the United States of America. And it’s by assuming this mission that FLAD constitutes itself as a bridge between the two countries, a resource of excellence among those who seek and offer opportunities in the USA in different areas.

As we celebrate 35 years we want FLAD to be involved in projects of undeniable value and to be recognized as an accessible, humane, and modern institution, which rewards merit and value creation.

Focusing on four major areas – Science and Technology, Education, Art and Culture, and Transatlantic Relations – FLAD wants to pave the way for the Portuguese scientific, academic, and artistic potential, strengthen Portuguese-American communities, and bring people and institutions closer together from the two sides of the Atlantic.

And, of course, in addition to our regular grants, programs, and open calls, we need to have your ideas and projects, framed in this promising relationship between Portugal and the United States of America, in which the Azores have a special role.

Almost 40 years History–also from the FLAD website

FLAD is the result of the strong relationship between Portugal and the United States of America.

Longtime allies, the two countries have had a close relationship for several decades, which gained intensity after the Second World War, with Portugal’s access to the Marshall and OECE Plan in 1948, and inclusion in NATO in 1949, together with the broad economic aid program granted to Portugal for its democratic consolidation, after the 25th of April of 1974.

But one of the most remarkable moments for FLAD to be born was the Cooperation and Defense Agreement between Portugal and the United States of America, in 1983. In it, the Portuguese government accepted the military facilities intended by the American government, such as the continuation of the North American stay at the Lajes Base (Azores), until 1991. On the other hand, the USA agreed to grant a set of support (military, economic, and energetic), among which was the creation of the Luso-American Development Foundation.

The formalization of the creation of FLAD took place on the 20th of May of 1985, with the approval of the Decree-Law n.º 168/85. The Luso-American Development Foundation was thus constituted as a Portuguese institution, financially autonomous and private, designed to contribute to the national development, through the promotion of scientific, technical, cultural, educational, commercial, and business cooperation between the two countries.

On that date, FLAD had a capital of 85 million euros. The management of this endowment allows the autonomous exercise of FLAD’s mission, to which other revenues from statutory activities also contribute.

Member of the main national and international networks of foundations (The Portuguese Foundation Center – CPF; The European Foundation Center – EFC), FLAD is recognized as one of the most important Portuguese foundations. It has opened doors to the United States for almost 40 years, developing Portugal, the Portuguese and Portuguese descendants, in partnership with leading institutions, while supporting projects of recognized value.