Portugal Forward – A time for diplomacy: Ambassador Lisa Bandari

Delivering a speech at an Embassy event at the Official Residence

“I think the most effective way to guarantee European security is to work together” – Lisa Bandari, United Kingdom Ambassador to Portugal

The Residence of Britain’s Ambassador to Portugal is located in a western Lisbon suburb sprinkled with startups, a few minutes from the Tagus estuary and the Belém Presidential Palace. I’m meeting the Ambassador in a reception room with French windows open to a garden. “Hi, I’m Lisa,” she greets, informal and engaging.

Ambassador Lisa Bandari has been United Kingdom Ambassador to Portugal since March 2024. “I’ve travelled around a lot in this first year: to the Algarve several times, up to the North and Porto – a city with strong British connections – and all the places in between, as well as the Azores and Madeira in January for a conference on Winston Churchill.”

A linguist by background, the Ambassador speaks fluent Portuguese. “To understand a culture, you really need to speak the language; this opens up the literature and wider context.”

Long-standing people-to-people links exist between Portugal and the United Kingdom, but the categories of people coming are evolving. While Portugal continues to be incredibly popular with British tourists – 2.4 million visited in 2023 – there is also a significant resident community of over 40,000 people.

Lisa with her dog Lily

“Increasingly, in addition to retirees, younger families and digital nomads are arriving. We’ve seen a really welcoming attitude from Portugal. We have different cultures, but there’s a cultural affinity between our two countries. In the other direction, many talented Portuguese professionals have chosen the UK as their home, making a huge contribution to UK society, so I think we’re very lucky in both directions.”

Ambassador Bandari comments on the momentum for both Portugal and the UK to work together on climate change: “We’re very like-minded. Our government is committed to the UK being a clean energy super-power by 2030. We’re seeing strong private sector collaboration, with UK companies investing in things like solar panels here in Portugal, and Portuguese companies investing in the UK in areas like offshore wind, with a very good renewable energy offer in both countries. I would say the energy transition is already happening.”

International economic cooperation

A big part of the Embassy’s work is supporting UK businesses who want to work with Portugal, and Portuguese companies who want to invest in the UK, working across a myriad of sectors such as pharmaceuticals, consulting, financial services, defence, IT, tech … “Investment in the UK is particularly strong in renewable energy, tech and life sciences, with the UK a good place to raise finance for companies wanting to internationalise.”

The morning of our meeting, the Ambassador had attended an event at the Unicorn Factory in Lisbon to support UK businesses looking to work in Portugal and Portuguese businesses looking to internationalise through the UK.

Lisa Bandari with the winner of the ‘Ambassador for a Day’ competition

Ambassador Bandari believes Portugal is a country of choice to base a company in terms of quality of life and the availability of a talented Portuguese workforce with good English language skills. “The economic cooperation work we do with companies and the Portuguese government aims to attract investment into Portugal to make sure there are good, high-paying jobs here, so emigration out of Portugal is reduced and young people stay.”

The Ambassador refers enthusiastically to a recent British Council study on transnational education ‘The Value of Transnational Education Partnerships’. “We’ll be able to deliver UK education here in Portugal, and there’re already examples of dual degrees with a British institution and a Portuguese institution delivering a degree together, offering not only benefits in education but also in cultural exchange.”

Currently, one in every five Portuguese scientists outside Portugal is in the UK, enormously benefitting Science and Technology links between the two countries. Since the UK has re-associated to Horizon Europe, the key EU funding programme for Research and Innovation, the Ambassador says there is even more collaboration in sectors such as life sciences and oceanography.

The Ambassador with President Marcelo

The week before our meeting, RRS Discovery, one of the UK’s two royal research ships, docked in Lisbon, with researchers on board from the National Oceanography Centre, providing UK and Portuguese scientists with an opportunity to share important insights on the collapse of the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) ocean current system that is harmfully impacting our climate. “We were able to get some young aspiring scientists on board the ship, a really good example of UK/Portugal science collaboration, two nations who share maritime links and the geography of the Atlantic.”

Active in soft power diplomacy, the Embassy is sponsoring an exhibition of works by British photographer Kenton Thatcher, who has lived and worked in Portugal for decades, from March 25 to April 19 at Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, in Lisbon, documenting Portuguese public figures in many different fields.

The Ambassador recently attended, at the new Gulbenkian Center of Modern Art (CAM), the opening of an exhibition of work by Sierra Leone-born, London-based poet and visual artist, JulianKnxx, ‘Chorus in Rememory of Flight’, a video portrayal of the Black experience across nine European cities with colonial histories, challenging fixed ideas of identity and historical narratives, showing until June 2, 2025. “There’s considerable appreciation of British culture and art here in Portugal and we’re always very keen to showcase it.”

“We all need to step up as a continent in defence”

We meet a few days before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “European security is a really important part of our work as a British embassy. We’re here in the home of our oldest ally, with an alliance that goes back more than 650 years, and one of the things I’m most proud of in this first year is how closely we’ve worked with Portugal to support Ukraine. One of the most important moments was the Portuguese government making a funding of €52 million for Portuguese drones for Ukraine, announced after the Portuguese and British Prime Ministers met for the first time in November. Our support for Ukraine continues to be ‘ironclad’, in our Prime Minister’s words.” Portugal is also a member of the ‘Tank Coalition’, supplying tanks to Ukraine.

“Our support for Ukraine continues to be ‘ironclad’, in our Prime Minister’s words”

In January, the UK signed a 100-year partnership with Ukraine, and Starmer recently reaffirmed support for President Zelensky as its democratically elected leader. “We’re facing a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of Europe, which isn’t just about Ukraine, it’s existential for the future of our continent. In this context, we feel very strongly that Europe and the United States need to continue to work extremely closely together, but we also agree we all need to step up as a continent in defence.

“That includes considering British troops on the ground to contribute to security. Equally, US support remains critical, including for a lasting peace in Ukraine, because really only the US can stop Putin from attacking again. I think the most effective way to guarantee European security is to work together on this, and I think that is in the US interest.

“We have recognised the need for European nations and NATO nations to step up and spend more on defence. As part of our re-set with the European Union, we have to be clear about the importance of having a security and defence partnership with the EU, with a real geopolitical imperative to work more closely together than ever before. In a NATO context, and the UK and Portugal are founding members of NATO, it makes sense for all NATO countries to increase defence spending. To act effectively as a continent, in all of our interests, we need a very close collaboration between the EU and NATO.”

With the British community in Horta, Azores

“It’s a huge pleasure raising children here”

The conversation turns to the more personal challenges of occupying an important official function while raising young children. “I think if you’re a parent, and a diplomat, you become extremely good at prioritising. Children give you another window into society and one of the things we’ve loved about being in Portugal is how kind and welcoming Portuguese people are to children. They’ve learned Portuguese quickly, and it’s a climate where children can play outdoors most of the year. It’s a huge pleasure raising children here, they’re very happy.”

The Ambassador responds to recent conversations in the media about Diversity Equality and Inclusion (DEI). “In March last year, we launched Ambassador For a Day, an initiative targeting gender equality. It’s a chance for young women to have a day to see the life of an Ambassador and to think about a career in international diplomacy. Ten students from all over Portugal will spend the day in Lisbon with me, seeing the work of an ambassador. I think we’ll learn a lot from each other, they’ve got fantastic ideas how they can make change in the world. I’m always keen to support other women into diplomacy. I hope this can be genuinely life-changing and inspire some of them to go on to an international career. It’s incumbent on all of us as female leaders to pave the way for others to follow in our footsteps.”

First published Portugal Resident, 'Portugal Forward', March 2025