"Once again the City council of Famalicão surprises us with a fantastic initiative that promotes the union between those in Famalicão and those outside". This is how Sónia Guimarães, a famalicense from Vale S. Cosme, currently living in China, referred to the session of Famalicenses across the World ("Famalicenses no Mundo") that marked last Saturday the Emigrant’s Day. The distance between Famalicão and China did not prevent her from attending the ceremony through the online platform Zoom.
In a ceremony full of emotion, union and significance, the municipality managed to gather in the Centro de Estudos Camilianos, in Seide, more than two dozen famalicenses across the world including the Mayor of Famalicão, Paulo Cunha, the Councillor of Internationalization, Augusto Lima, and an auditorium full of family and friends.
"The Famalicenses across the World Network transports Famalicão across borders, whoever is outside becomes an extension of the territory and wherever a Famalicense is, Famalicão is spoken of with pride", also pointed out Sónia Guimarães.
Nuno Correia, an emigrant based in London, also shared, in an emotional face-to-face testimony, the importance of this network for famalicenses abroad, which represents "the recognition of their city by those outside", underlining “the potential of this network that should be based on partnerships that will be beneficial to all".
The ceremony was marked by handing over the first ID Cards to the emigrants present in the initiative. The ID card formalizes the membership of the Famalicenses across the World Network, establishing an important instrument of dynamisation and dissemination of the network, fostering a feeling of sharing and belonging among all members who are part of it and allowing them to make themselves known within, but also outside the network.
Visibly proud, Paulo Cunha said that through the Famalicenses across the World Network we are "exporting Famalicão to the world", pointing out "the Famalicense Nation goes far beyond the territory and limits of the county".
The Councillor of Internationalisation presented the Famalicenses across the world Network, "an action framed in a strategy outlined since 2017 and that aims to promote Famalicão globally. With this project "we create a support network, strengthening ties and relationships between those who are already emigrated and those who want to emigrate, in addition to promoting the territory, helping to attract investment and talent".
It should be noted that the municipality of Famalicão has been developing the Famalicenses across the World Project, integrated in the Urban Diplomacy Agenda and the Municipal Strategy of Internationalisation.
This project has come to consolidate itself in the creation of a Network that already integrates more than a hundred fellow citizens spread around the world, from Asia to North America, passing through Europe, Africa and South America. These Famalicenses, although involved in the execution of their personal and professional projects in the places they have chosen to live and work, do not forget their origins and the strong ties that unite them to Famalicão.
The objective of the Famalicenses across the World project is to know and maintain contact with the citizens of Famalicão who are spread across the world, opening a direct communication and information channel between Famalicão and the Famalicense diaspora, encouraging that each one of the Famalicenses across the World can be an informal "Ambassador" of our Council in the city or region where they live.