In statements to Lusa at the end of the meeting, which took place at the headquarters of the New York City executive in Manhattan on 6 September, Carlos Moedas said that he had a "very special meeting" with Eric Adams, with whom he discussed sustainability issues and spoke about the drainage tunnels that are being built in Lisbon since New York also suffers from floods.

"We were talking about what we are doing, which is the largest project in Europe in terms of drainage tunnels for water, to prevent flooding in the city of Lisbon. I even showed him a video of how these tunnels are being built, 70 meters underground in Lisbon. He [Eric Adams] turned to me and said: 'This is something we also have to do. We haven't managed it yet, but it's also something New York should do to prevent flooding'", said the mayor of Lisbon.

"We are starting to open up a relationship between the municipalities, in terms of innovation, culture and homeless people, but above all in this area of ​​sustainability and in what are the large drainage tunnels in Lisbon, with American engineers visiting our drainage tunnels, and our team also coming here to see what they are doing in terms of, for example, permeable asphalt", he added.

Considered the largest municipal project ever undertaken by the Lisbon City Council, the Lisbon General Drainage Plan (PGDL) aims to protect the city from extreme rainfall, flooding and inundation.


Social problems

Regarding the social problems affecting both cities, Moedas and Adams addressed the issue of homeless people and migrants arriving in the cities without documentation.

"We shared good practices and I said that, often, in Lisbon, I cannot help people who do not have documentation and he replied that exactly the same thing happens in New York, and that documentation is the responsibility of the Governments, not the Mayors. Therefore, we exchanged many of the ideas we have to prevent people from becoming homeless", he told Lusa.

Carlos Moedas invited Eric Adams to visit Lisbon in October, to attend the Estoril Conferences and the opening of the Tribeca Festival in Lisbon, but the New York mayor has not yet been able to confirm his presence.


Tribeca Festival

The Tribeca Festival was precisely one of the reasons that led Carlos Moedas to travel to New York, where he will participate on Tuesday in a launch event for this festival, which will be held in Lisbon for the first time.

"I am coming to New York especially because we are going to launch the Tribeca Film Festival in Lisbon for the first time in October, (...) at the Unicorn Factory, the major technology project we have in Lisbon. With this project, we are going to connect technology to the world of art and also to the most vulnerable people, to the municipal neighborhoods. It is a festival that is not a red carpet festival, as they say, but it is a festival that also brings together communities, neighborhoods, producers, small filmmakers, those who are just starting out, and young people, to be able to work at the 'Tribeca Film Festival'. So, it is a very unique moment", declared Moedas.

The event is the North American Tribeca Film Festival, which will have a Portuguese edition, to take place in October, in Lisbon, with the presence of director Robert de Niro and producer Jane Rosenthal.

The Tribeca Festival Lisbon will take place between 17 and 19 October and is the result of a partnership between Tribeca Enterprises, the television station SIC, the streaming platform OPTO and the Lisbon City Council.

In addition to Robert de Niro and Jane Rosenthal, who co-founded the Tribeca festival in 2002 in New York, the Lisbon edition will feature the presence of director Patty Jenkins, actress Whoopi Goldberg and actor Griffin Dunne.