Portugal, an open country, looks to China for investment

"As a country open to foreign investment, Portugal welcomes investment from China." Kompati, investment counselor of the Portuguese Embassy in China, said in the online promotion of Portugal's investment environment held recently. Last year marked the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Portugal. With frequent high-level exchanges and continuous growth of bilateral trade and investment, China-Portugal relations have shown a sound pattern of development and the comprehensive strategic partnership has been continuously strengthened.

As the first western country to sign the memorandum of understanding with China to jointly build the "One Belt And One Road", the main advantages of Portugal's investment environment lie in its geographical location and market access. Portugal, as an important hub connecting the Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road, enjoys natural advantages in economic and trade cooperation with China. Portugal is not only a bridge to a huge consumer market of 500 million people in Europe, but also a bridge between Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa and South America, so the market is much larger. Add in Portugal's own good business climate and it is the oecd's second most open country to foreign investment, Forbes' 25th best country to do Business in 2019, and the World Bank's number one for cross-border trade in 2019. In terms of talent, The Portuguese have multilingual skills, such as Those in Britain, France and West Germany, which are extremely beneficial for Chinese companies that want to go global. Their scientific literacy and technical level are higher than the average level in Europe, among which the number of engineering graduates ranks the second in Europe, with more high-quality talents and world-renowned innovation ability.

Subsequently, Fang Zhihao, Economic and Commercial counselor of the Portuguese Embassy in China, and the staff of Portuguese LAW firm PLMJ respectively introduced Portugal's preferential policies for foreign investment in various aspects. For example, there are fewer restrictions on investors in the local area. Investors are not required to hold shares in local enterprises when setting up factories in the local area, and there are no hard and fast rules on the proportion of profits of foreign enterprises in and out of China. At the same time, foreign-invested enterprises operating in Portugal can enjoy the same national treatment as domestic enterprises. In addition, the government also provides investors with full support and one-stop service institutions, inquiry processing, fact-finding, site location, investment incentives and other full-process services.

In recent years, a number of Chinese enterprises, such as the Three Gorges Corporation and The State Grid corporation of China, have conducted good cooperation with a number of important Portuguese enterprises, and the pace of Chinese enterprises' deployment in Portugal has been accelerating. In 2018, cofco set up a "Center of Excellence" in Porto, Portugal to provide Shared services for cofco International, which not only accelerated cofco's goal of becoming a world-class grain producer, but also created more than 100 new jobs in IT, procurement, human resources and finance.

"Proximity to customers, supply chain resilience, a focus on sustainable development and social responsibility, and innovative partnerships will contribute to Portugal's international business in the post-epidemic era." Kompati said.

In addition to the energy, finance, life and health sectors in which Chinese companies have invested heavily, the Portuguese auto and auto parts industry also has a promising future. Currently, Portugal's 2020 project with the European Commission focuses on developing the automobile industry, accelerating the research and development of new energy vehicles, and accelerating the restructuring of the country's supply chain through such organizations as the "supplier club". Investing in Portugal could help Chinese carmakers expand further.

In addition, Portugal is an internationally recognized tourist destination and hopes to create tourism demand in the new region and promote sustainable development. Among them, the natural restoration project proposed by relevant government departments aims to open part of the meaningful and historic property to the public, develop tourism, promote investment and create jobs. So far, 21 cultural heritages have been put to public bidding, 16 franchises have been issued, 14 contracts have been signed and two hotels have been opened.

"We are very much looking forward to more Chinese investors coming. We are absolutely open to Chinese investors." 'Portugal's economy is thriving because of its openness, and it is more competitive because of its openness,' Mr. Kompati said.