Portuguese PM Antonio Costa to arrive in Goa on 11-12 January; will visit ancestral house

Panaji: Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa will be arriving in Goa on 11 January on a two-day trip during which he will visit his ancestral house and attend a host of events in the coastal State. “Costa will arrive on 11 January from Gujarat and on the same day he would pay a courtesy visit to Goa Governor Mridula Sinha and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar,” an official from State Protocol Department told PTI on Saturday. On the same day, he would be visiting his ancestral house at Margao, 30km from Panaji where he would be having meal with family members of his cousin. [caption id=“attachment_3193012” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Antonio Costa. Reuters[/caption] Anna Kaarina Costa, first cousin of the 55-year-old Prime Minister, currently lives at the Costa House, located on Abade Faria Road, with her family members. Goa was ruled by Portuguese for nearly 400 years and it was liberated in 1961. The PM would be visiting the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) at Dona Paula, Churches in Old Goa and a temple at Mangueshi, according to his itinerary. Later in the evening, he would be given a reception by civil society groups at Adil Shah palace, a former secretariat building in the heart of Panaji city. He would be presented with the English translation of “Sem Caras Nem Coroas”, a book originally written by his father Orlando Costa. On 12 January, he is scheduled to make a trip to a factory at Verna besides paying courtesy visits to various institutes associated with the Portuguese Government in the State, the official said. Before winding up his Goa visit, the Portuguese leader will be accorded a reception by local community members.