There is a sea of ​​opportunities that Portugal and Japan can develop together, says AICEP – Observer

The president of the Portugal Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP) said on Monday that “there is a sea of ​​opportunities” that Portugal and Japan can develop together, as part of Expo Osaka that starts on Sunday.

“Portugal, of course, makes a major investment in the Osaka exhibition and, in addition to publicizing the Portuguese culture and tradition, the goal is also to reap the economic results that this exhibition can produce to Portugal,” said Ricardo Arroja, who spoke to journalists at the end of the Portugal’s participation in Expo 2025 Osaka, which took place at the entity’s headquarters.

Indeed, “Portugal and Japan have a quite established bilateral relationship, naturally there is growth potential of this same relationship“.

From AICEP “We seek to promote the internationalization of the Portuguese economy, namely the international activities that Portuguese companies can have in Japan and other places and, therefore, Japan also serves as a lever of our presence in Asia, and the agency also has“ as a goal Promote the attraction of foreign direct investment to Portugal“.

Ricardo Arroja stressed that Japan “is a country where there are already Portuguese companies operating, pointing out that“At this time there are significantly 1,000 companies that directly export goods”For or Japanese market.

“The goal, of course, is to grow far beyond this number so that Japan can be a base not only of Portuguese export, but also of the internationalization of Portuguese companies, namely those that have greater ambition and have the resources to do so in such distant stops as the Japanese lands,” he said.

Simultaneously, “We also have in Portugal direct direct investment in Japan in several domains“Among which agriculture, industry, energy, technology, science, among others.

“Anyway, there is a sea of ​​opportunities that Portugal and Japan can develop together at a time when Portugal is so well released to reconcile what Portuguese tradition is, […] And the modernity and technology and science that Portugal is also capable of projecting to the world today and that matters, in particular, to some of these more advanced countries, such as Japan, ”he said.

The president of AICEP has listed the various domains where Portugal “compares well on the international path”, either in the “great leadership in the domain of renewable energy” as it is increasingly “more competitive” in life sciences.

He highlighted agriculture, “where there is also a great modernization of production technologies” or aeronics, “in which Portugal is also very well rated” or the technical textiles.

In short, “There is no shortage of opportunities for Portugal to benefit from Japan’s foreign direct investment“, Since,” in Portugal, there is a Japanese direct investment stock of 600 million euros, “he said.

Therefore, “we can grow far beyond this value, so there is a good knowledge of Portugal with Japan.”

In this sense, AICEP, along with the exhibition, “will organize a set of focused economic seminars” in mobility, life sciences and sea economy in Tokyo, alignment with the thematic weeks at Expo 2025.

The Mobility Seminar takes place on May 22, from Life Sciences on July 1, another defense on August 8 and the Blue Economy Seminar on September 24.

The economy of the sea is “an activity that is transverse to a series of economic sectors,” such as agriculture, energy, telecommunications, fish, where Portugal “can be positioned and thus actually benefit from the investment capacity that Japan evidences.”

AICEP and Startup Portugal will take startups e scaleups Japan, registration is open until April 13.

Ricardo Arroja stressed that the automotive industry, “naturally”, is a sector “where there are also relevant investments of Japanese entities” in Portugal.

Asked about any investments from Japan in Portugal, the president of AICEP shot: “At AICEP, we only communicate the investments when they are realized.”

Now, “the answer, as to the pipelineyes, we are in interaction with investments from various geographies and Japan, of course, is a country where AICEP has a presence, ”where he has an office in Tokyo.

About Portugal’s presence at Expo 2025 Osaka, he stressed that “the pavilion is very beautiful”, being made based on suspended strings, “in an architecture that works very well”, which is a project “that makes use of recycling themes”.

In the scope of the theme “which is closed by Universal Exposure, we have, in fact, something like a biodiversity apologist, the protection of the environment, as a country that combines a virtuous fusion between nature and new opportunities for economic development.”

The goal, “as responsible for AICEP, is to project a decent, modern and strong image of Portugal in that area of ​​the world.”

Asked about the tariffs applied by the United States, Ricardo Arroja declined to talk about the subject. However, he said that “Portugal seeks to diversify its marketsAnd, in the case of Japan, Lisbon can “grow much more“.

He stressed: “Portugal’s goal is naturally to diversify its export markets and Asia today covers a set of countries for which growth rates are much higher than the western world are much higher.