Under the auspices of Prof. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of Ain Shams University, Prof. Abdel-Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, received Mr. Roy Trino, Ambassador of Portugal, Dr. Irma Jonathan, Cultural Attaché at the Portuguese Embassy, and Prof. Abdelilah Suess, Professor at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, in the presence of Prof. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty of Al-Alsun, on the occasion of the International Day of the Portuguese Language. This visit is the first for the Portuguese ambassador to Ain Shams University and the Department of Portuguese Language at the Faculty of Al-Alsun since he assumed this position last April.

During his meeting with the vice president of the university, the Portuguese ambassador was keen to explain the desire of the Portuguese embassy to continue supporting the Portuguese language department and to consolidate relations with Ain Shams University, believing in the importance of the scientific and cultural role played by Ain Shams University in general and the Faculty of Al-Alsun in particular in the field of spreading the Portuguese language and culture and working to graduate distinguished students in the field of language, literature, and translation to the labor market.

It was pointed out in this meeting, the need to sign a protocol in the near future with the University of Avero under the supervision of Prof. Abdel-Ilah Suis, in order to carry out a student exchange between students of the Arabic language in Portugal and students of the Portuguese language in Egypt, and to hold online lectures between students of both sides under the supervision of Prof. Abdullah, in the framework of working on cultural exchange and strengthening relations between the two universities.

During the celebration held at the Faculty of Al-Alsun on the occasion of the International Day of the Portuguese Language, Prof. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty of Al-Alsun, gave a speech that started with an overview of the establishment of the Faculty of Al-Alsun and its enlightening role from the Renaissance era until now in the field of literary and linguistic studies and translation. Then moved on to talk about the establishment of the Department of Portuguese Language in 2018 and the challenges that faced the department since its opening, the most important of which coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic and the role of The Embassy of Portugal and all former ambassadors, in cooperation with the Camuice Institute, represented by Dr. Irma Jonathan, cultural attaché of the Portuguese Embassy in supporting the department, in cooperation with Prof. Aisha Swailem, former head of the department.

And Prof. Asst. Dr. Reham Ezzat, Head of the Portuguese Language Department, gave her speech, in which she thanked the Portuguese Ambassador for attending the ceremony and wished him success in his mission in Egypt, and expressed her desire to continue the permanent cooperation between the Portuguese Language Department and the embassy, also thanked everyone who contributed to the organization of this celebration, led by Dr. Irma Jonthel and Dr. Karina Filippi and Dr. Rita Ocampos from the Portuguese side and Prof. Fatima Mohamed is one of the teachers from the Egyptian side in the department, as well as all the students participating in the cultural activities on this day.

And Prof. Asst. Dr. Reham Ezzat presented a presentation in which she dealt with the most important information about the Department of Portuguese Language, the number of students, the courses in the department, and the cultural activities carried out by students since the opening of the department, she also talked about the participation of students in many official events in Egypt in Portuguese as translators, and the official authorities’ praise for the level of students.

A video was also presented to the students of the different teams in the Portuguese Language Department, in which they talked about the positive impact of studying the Portuguese language in providing them with opportunities in the labor market in the field of translation, telecommunications companies, tourism, and others.

The activities of the first day of the celebration of the International Day of the Portuguese Language ended with a seminar delivered by Prof. Abdelilah Suess, Professor at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, who spoke about “Issues on Translation from Portuguese into Arabic: Linguistic Strategies in Translating Verb Tenses and Their Use in Communicative Contexts.” This seminar received a great response from the students and professors of the department.