On his first official visit to Portugal, the United States Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator by President Cavaco Silva, and met with Prime Minister Passos Coelho. Secretary Moniz was a keynote speaker at a conference focusing on “The New Energy Challenges” which took place at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon and had the participation of the Portuguese Minister of Energy Jorge Moreira da Silva.
Later in the evening there was a reception hosted by Ambassador Sherman at his residence in honor of Secretary Moniz. Among the guests were several prominent figures of the Portuguese political, academic and scientific areas.
A nuclear physicist, Moniz, whose grandparents are from the Azores, has served under President Barack Obama since May 2013.
