CHAMBERS
Given the favorable outlook of the Portuguese economy, foreign chambers in the country are keen to help businesses set up in the country, be a sounding board, and lobby for the necessary legislation.
Our membership has been changing since Portugal started emerging from years of crisis. Portugal has been a key focus for three or four years now, and the chamber of commerce is one of the doorways to the country. We organize many events such as seminars across multiple economic sectors with the objective of making contacts between French and Portuguese companies. Our dynamism is our best image and promotion tool to boost membership. We organize events to assess successes in particular areas of business such as exports to France and Portugal, environment, innovation, as well as a company nominated by the jury. This gives companies who want to highlight some of their projects a chance to receive acclaim in the press for their achievements. We also work with European chambers of commerce in Portugal to organize events to enable networking. In-depth market research and analysis on macroeconomic trends also helps businesses. Here, we are fortunate that there is extensive collaboration between different entities, which is not the case in every country. Business France has the most information for market studies to help expand French exports into Portugal. However, we take the lead when the company is already in the market and provide it with information to set up a company here and help them invest.
Many uncertainties remain regarding Brexit, and it will stay high on the topical agenda for several years to come. Many companies are worried about the negative impact it will have their business, whilst others are rejoicing about the new opportunities that are emerging. We intend to monitor developments as they occur and offer seminars to help prepare our members. For some, there was the perception that chambers of commerce were rather traditional institutions, and that image still sticks. We, therefore, made a conscious effort to be more appealing to a new generation of companies that are dominating the business scene. We created more activities targeting start-ups and entrepreneurs. In 2017, we were pleased to welcome Google as a member, which illustrates our appeal to such companies. Companies such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook are dominating our landscape; for them to join us and use the chamber to project their brand is a great indication for us. In the early days, the chamber was much more into manufacturing, wine, and textiles, though more recently it has moved more toward services and tourism, where it is strong in the Algarve region. The activities in the north are more geared toward manufacturing, whereas the central region has a higher concentration of services and tech.
This German chamber is part of the network of German chambers in over 90 countries and was established in 1954 as a bilateral chamber working with both German companies coming to Portugal and with Portuguese companies going to Germany for investment, exports, or imports. It is always about finding opportunities for both sides. There are altogether 400 German companies in the country, of which most are industrial. We bring in German companies and provide services for them and also help Portuguese businesses enter the German market. We do professional education, which is one of our important areas, because companies need qualified people. We have offices and training centers in Lisbon and Porto as well as a training center down south. All these activities are focused on what is needed. Economic relations are increasing, which means our activity will grow as well. We are here to help German-Portuguese economic activities grow in different areas. As a chamber of commerce, we are a lobbying organization, though especially oriented toward services for our members. We help German companies here find partners to get information on the relevant laws and regulations. We have many German companies exporting industrial products to Portugal and entering into production processes here. Our goal is to help lower the threshold of doing business here.
CHAMBERS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Focus: Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries
Making an Impact
Established in 1996, the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP) is a mechanism geared at linking and sharing the experience of Lusophone countries. Besides Portugal, this includes Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
read articleFocus
Don’t Mind the Disruption
Having won the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, Lisbon hosted the 2018 event. The relevance? Well, the contest began back in 1956 as a showcase not only of song, but of then-nascent live television broadcast technology. Today, Portugal is on the cutting edge of new technological developments.
read articleInterview
João Pedro Soeiro de Matos Fernandes , Minister , Environment and Energy Transition
The Ministry for the Environment and Energy Transition is focusing on decarbonizing the economy, valuing the territory and its habitats, and striving for a more circular use of the country's resources.
read articleInterview
António Braz Costa , General Manager, Portuguese Technological Centre for the Textile & Clothing Industries (CITEVE)
CITEVE has transformed the industry by promoting value addition, adopting the latest technologies, and ensuring the highest standards of environmental sustainability.
read articleFocus: New airport
Right Time to Seize Missed Opportunities
Portugal has seen its air traffic figures increase by as much as 80% in the last five years. As a result, its transportation infrastructure, and Lisbon's airport in particular, cannot cope with the rising numbers. A new airport project that will turn a military base into a commercial airport is now under discussion to bring much-needed relief to air traffic.
read articleInterview
Germano de Sousa , President, Grupo Germano de Sousa
Grupo Germano de Sousa's success can best be summed up by its understanding that science and medicine only really progress when technological development is combined with a deeper respect for human values and professional ethics.
read articleInterview
Isabel Capeloa Gil , Rector, Universidade Católica
Having pioneered the introduction of multiple subject areas to Portugal's tertiary education scene, Universidade Católica is aspiring to establish the country's first private medical school and introduce cutting-edge digital transformation.
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Carlos Guillén Gestoso , President, Escola Universitária de Ciências Empresariais, Saúde, Tecnologias e Engenharia & President, Atlantica University
Atlantica University differentiates through its company-university model and an MBA program in partnership with the University of California, Berkley, among other initiatives, to produce practical theoreticians.
read articleFocus: Public teaching staff
An Age-old Problem
Over a decade of austerity measures combined with an ageing population have seen the average age of the Portuguese public teaching staff progressively climb to one of the highest in the OECD. With frozen salaries, an extended retirement age, and precarious working conditions, today the sector faces one of its biggest challenge yet.
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Pedro Queiroz , General Manager, Federation of the Portuguese Agri-Food Industry (FIPA)
Portugal's economic recovery has seen its F&B sector emerge with annual turnovers of EUR16 billion, thanks to FIPA's undeterred focus on stable policies, excellent nutrition standards, and sustainability.
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