Minister leaves on “economic diplomacy tour” to promote Portuguese companies
Minister of the Economy Pedro Reis will visit Qatar this week to “strengthen bilateral relations, particularly economic ones” and “attract investment” in areas such as industry, energy, services and mobility, according to an official statement released today.
According to the statement, the visit to Qatar – running from Tuesday to Friday (August 30) – is part of an “economic diplomacy tour” aimed at “attracting foreign investment” and obtaining “support for the internationalisation of Portuguese companies in various areas”.
Accompanied by the Portuguese ambassador in Doha, Paulo Neves Pocinho, and the local representative of the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP), Manuel Couto Miranda, the head of the government’s Economy portfolio will meet with five Qatari ministers (Finance, Energy, Transport, Trade and Industry and Communications and Information Technology) and is scheduled to meet with the heads of the emirate’s two sovereign wealth funds (Qatar Investment Authority and Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company).
“Trade relations between Portugal and Qatar have great potential for growth”, said the government statement
In the first half of 2024, Portugal was Qatar’s 73rd customer, importing mainly chemical products, mostly plastics, and its 76th supplier, exporting mainly machinery, vehicles, footwear, agri-food and chemical products, ceramics and glass.
“The number of Portuguese exporting companies to Qatar has followed an upward trend,’ says the government, pointing out that in 2022 there were 390 companies exporting to the Persian Gulf country.
The most important Qatari investments in Portugal are stakes in EDP and VINCI Energies Portugal (both owned by the Qatari sovereign wealth fund) and the ‘W Algarve’ resort, which, according to press release, represents an investment of €300 million +and is expected to create 300 direct jobs and 200 indirect jobs.
Qatar, which was a British protectorate until 1971, is one of the richest countries in the world due to its oil and natural gas revenues.
Ranked 40th in the United Nations Human Development Index (released in March this year), Qatar is still considered an ‘unfree’ country by human rights organisations such as Freedom House, writes Lusa.
In 2023, Amnesty International said: that “authorities continued to restrict the right to freedom of expression and silence critical voices.
“Migrant workers continued to face a range of abuses, including wage extortion, forced labour and exploitation, and did not have adequate access to complaint and redress mechanisms” AI went on, saying “women continued to face discrimination in law and in practice” and that “discriminatory laws” continue to exist against sexual and identity minorities (LGBTQIA+)”.
This did not stop the previous government also reaching out to promote Portugal in Qatar, with former prime minister António Costa travelling to the country himself for this purpose in 2017.
Source material: LUSA
