The mutual interest in deepening and strengthening economic and trade cooperation between Greece and Portugal was confirmed during the meeting held today in Lisbon between Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy and Openness, Kostas Fragogiannis, and his Portuguese counterpart Secretary of State for International Trade and Foreign Investment, Bernardo Ivo Cruz,
During the meeting, the two Ministers focused on the prospects for enhancing bilateral cooperation in the areas of RES, water/waste management, construction, infrastructure, transport, shipping, and innovation. In particular, Mr. Fragogiannis expressed, to the Portuguese side, the Greek companies’ interest in participating in the improvement of the Portuguese railway network and the construction of the new Lisbon airport. The possibility of increasing the frequency of direct flights between Portuguese cities and Athens was also discussed, among other things, in order to boost tourist flows on both sides.
On his part, the Portuguese Secretary of State referred to the prospects for reinforcing bilateral trade and Portuguese investments in photovoltaic systems, as well as in wind farms in Greece, while he also spoke about synergies in the ship-building and marine equipment sector.
The two Ministers also had discussions on the intention to establish a Greek-Portuguese Chamber in Athens, with the aim of supporting the extroversion of Greek and Portuguese businesses and their joint ventures in South-Eastern Europe and the Lusophone African countries.
The above-mentioned cooperation prospects were also addressed in the meetings of Mr. Fragogiannis with Antonio Saraiva, President of the Confederation of Portuguese Business (Confederação Empresarial de Portugal CIP) and LuIs Castro Henriques, President of the Portuguese export and investment promotion authority AICEP (Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal, E.P.E.), with whom the Deputy Minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding, representing Enterprise Greece.