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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
95/05/20 Fact Sheet: US-Portugal Agreement on Cooperation/Defense
Bureau of Public Affairs
On June 1, 1995, Secretary of State Christopher will sign, in Lisbon, the Agreement on Cooperation and Defense with Portugal.
The United States began negotiations with Portugal in early 1991 on this new agreement for continued U.S. access to military facilities in the Azores and related matters. On March 28, 1995, the U.S. and Portuguese Special Negotiators initialed the agreement which the Secretary will sign, as well as Technical and Labor Annexes. The agreement supersedes a series of previous bilateral agreements, including the 1951 Defense Agreement authorizing the continued presence of U.S. forces at Lajes Base on the island of Terceira in the Azores.
The new agreement is more broadly gauged than the one in 1951, incorporating aspects of bilateral cooperation in a number of areas of non-military endeavor. It provides for high-level bilateral political and political-military consultations to take place annually. It creates an important Standing Bilateral Commission which will develop programs of cooperation in the military field, between defense sector industries and in scientific and technological areas. The commission will also reinforce the economic and commercial relations between Portugal and the United States and will provide for cooperation with the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
The agreement also provides an effective framework, particularly through the new Bilateral Commission, for the furtherance of Luso-American relations in many fields of endeavor.
May 20, 1995
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