The decisions were taken after discussion of proposals submitted by the Socialist government at a meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defence on board the Sagres, a sailing ship that is also serves as a training school, in the Lisbon naval base in Alfeite, on the south bank of the River Tagus in Almada, in Setúbal district.

A statement released after the meeting said that it had been decided "to give a favourable opinion on the nation's participation in the United Nations mission in Colombia, naturally taking into account the surrounding situation" - a reference to the fact that voters in that country this week rejected in a referendum a peace agreement reached between the government and the FARC rebels.

As for the NATO mission in Kosovo, known as KFOR, the statement said that the council also approved "the withdrawal of the ... force in KFOR by the end of the first half of 2017, in the framework of the continuation of the same Portuguese commitment" in the organisation.