Gomes Cravinho participated in the opening of the seminar "The Portuguese Army in the National Response to Covid-19 - Experience and Challenges", an initiative that took place at the Military Academy, in Amadora (district of Lisbon), within the scope of the Army Day celebrations.

In the intervention, the defense official started by making a “frankly positive” assessment of the “response of the Armed Forces, and in particular of the Army, to this pandemic”, and stressed that "all Portuguese can be proud of this performance".

"I believe that there has been a widely shared consensus in our society that the Armed Forces have been a critical element, a differentiating element, which has ensured a unique support, an indispensable support for other governance structures", he advocated, listing that the military personnel have supported, for example, health, prisons, schools, homes and also civil protection.

In the view of the Minister of Defense, "this is a moment in which it must be stressed that this level of readiness cannot be achieved without investment".

"Public investment in ready and credible Armed Forces is as relevant as public investment in the health, education or infrastructure of our country. It is up to the State to ensure that the level of national resilience that the Armed Forces guarantees is maintained, as the ultimate backing of the well-being of our society ", he also stressed.