Brussels, 17/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - In a personal letter he sent on Tuesday, Portuguese Foreign Minister and Council President Jaime Gama congratulated Joschka Fischer for the ideas he put forward on Europe's future, considering that it was an "important contribution to the decisive debate in which Europe is now engaged". Having recalled that one of the goals of the Portuguese Presidency was precisely to "create the conditions to reflect on the integration model we want for Europe", beyond the current IGC (the debate, he stresses, was begun at the informal meeting of Foreign Ministers in the Azores), Mr. Gama tells Mr. Fischer: "The task ahead of us has only begun.(…), the current IGC will be the last of its kind. We face multiple challenges - to name but a few, institutional reform, enlargement, social cohesion, the development of credible and effective security and defence policy and, most of all, how to meet the concerns shown by the citizens of Europe about the legitimacy and the ultimate purpose of the Union. Nothing short of courage and vision will be needed. Concluding, Gama assures Mr. Fischler that the Portuguese Presidency will back his proposal and, being committed to it, will ensure that in is taken into account.