The Prime Minister opined on Friday that the “new war” caused by the Hamas attack on Israel was worsening the global context, which was already “very harsh”, arguing that with a “cool head, but with confidence” must respond.
In the municipality of Guimarães, Braga district, António Costa, during the visit to a textile company, recalled the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, emphasizing that after both “a very major disruption to supply chains, which was an initial major contributor to the increase in raw material costs”.
In a second moment, he added that, partly as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there was an energy crisis “which has significantly increased energy costs on a global scale”, exactly as it was “increasing difficulties” how many “the mobilization of human resources to respond to the increase in demand that arose after the pandemic”.
“These phenomena all implied inflation, the inflation led to a very harsh response from the European Central Bank with the increase in interest rates, creating a very harsh context. The new war, which broke out last week with “the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel only exacerbates this global context. Faced with this context, we must respond with a cool head, but with confidence in the capabilities that we know can respond to these adverse situations.”the Prime Minister emphasized.
António Costa emphasized that the response of the national economic fabric after the Covid-19 pandemic has been “truly impressive” in terms of its investment capacity.
“In 2022, Portuguese companies invested a total of 32 billion euros, more than the total amount stated in the PRR [Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência] for all your purposes. It was the biggest year for business investments in our country. And by June this year, business investment had already exceeded what had happened in the first half of 2022.”the Prime Minister said in his speech.
The head of government admitted that we have experienced “perhaps too many challenging moments” but emphasized that the most important thing is to “fight the battle” and face the ongoing challenges.
“This implies continuing to invest in modernization, continuing to invest in more sustainability in energy production, continuing to invest in more sustainability in the circularity of raw materials, continuing to invest in the ability to innovate, because it is precisely this ability that makes the same factory floor what is here today. coming out the day certainly has nothing to do with what came out here 20 or 30 years ago.”declared António Costa.
The Prime Minister presented some figures to emphasize the importance of the textile sector in the national economy.
“The textile sector represents 22% of companies in the manufacturing industry, 23% of employment in the manufacturing industry and represented approximately seven billion euros in turnover last year. Today it is an industry that exports heavily. And this capacity for competitiveness is fundamentally based on a major investment in innovation and the ability to adapt in contexts that are often challenging”defended the head of the government.
The Prime Minister attended the inauguration of a new unit of Têxteis JF Almeida, SA, an investment of 15 million euros and which allowed the creation of 45 new jobs.
The company, located in the municipality of Guimarães, has been around for about forty years and currently exports 95% of its production.
About ten demonstrators, affiliated with the education sector, were present outside the company and chanted the word ‘dismissal’.
Costa emphasizes the resilience of the Northern Portugal-Galicia euro region
The Prime Minister cited the Northern Portugal-Galicia Euroregion as an example of resilience, noting that Alto Minho has benefited from the “huge competitive advantage” of this cross-border area.
“A Euroregion already exists between Northern Portugal and Galicia. This is a huge competitive advantage for Portugal and Alto Minho, who have been able to exploit this potential very well,” said António Costa in Paredes de Coura, Viana do Castelo district, where he inaugurated bypass to Estrada Nacional (EN) 303, an investment of 10.8 million euros, connecting the industrial area of Formariz, in Paredes de Coura, with highway 3 (A3).
The Prime Minister spoke at that industrial estate, on the site of Doureca, a company that was destroyed by fire in 2021 and that, according to António Costa, “was reborn from the ashes” without cutting “any jobs”. is an example of “symbolic resilience of those who live and work in Alto Minho”.
“Alto Minho is one of the most important regions in attracting investments and in its ability to attract export investments,” he stated.
As for Doureca, he noted that it is “a company that produces parts for the automotive industry”, which “ensures that there is no car in circulation in Europe that does not have at least one part produced in Portugal”.
“Many considered it a fatality to be inland, that these border regions should form some kind of barrier for poorer areas. In Portugal and Spain we had many years when this border was a battlefield and became a no man’s land,” the Prime Minister lamented.
But, António Costa said, “nothing justifies it continuing like this.”
“We are two brotherly countries, we have everything to gain from appreciating the cross-border dimension,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister also pointed to the first vaccine factory to appear in Portugal, which opens today in Paredes de Coura and is an investment of the Spanish group Zendal, as an example of the dynamics of the Northern Portugal – Galicia euro region.
“It is the first vaccine factory in the country, which is the result of the development of a factory by a group based in Galicia. For now it is a new factory. We’ll see later. The Mayor of Paredes de Coura reveals special gifts of dynamism and ability to convince, in an effort that has rewarded the region and the country,” he emphasized.
The variant inaugurated today by Costa is a symbolic work of the PRR Business Reception Areas (AAE) – Road Access measure, with an initial allocation of EUR 142 million, increased in the reprogramming to EUR 166.4 million, and which aims to AAE guarantee access to major roads.
At the end of the ceremony, neither the Minister of Infrastructure nor the Prime Minister wanted to make statements to journalists.
Source: DN
