Brazil and Portugal take bilateral relations to the next level

An event that opens doors to a more intense performance by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) in Portugal; expands the partnership between Brazil’s Embraer and Portugal’s Center of Engineering and Product Development (CEiiA); and that, by attracting around 200 businesspersons from both nations, builds a bridge to boost trade flow and joint projects in fields such as urban mobility, energy transition and aviation. 

This event is a milestone in the reinstitution of the many and varied bilateral relations that I intend to promote”

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

This was how the Portugal-Brazil Business Forum: Partnerships for Innovation was opened  today (24). The ceremony was held at CEiiA, in Matosinhos, Portugal, and attended by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; by the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa; by the Brazilian ministers of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos, and of External Relations, Mauro Vieira; and by the president of Embraer, Francisco Gomes Neto, amongst other authorities from both countries.

“This event is a milestone in the reinstitution of the many and varied bilateral relations that I intend to promote,” declared Lula.  The Brazilian president recalled his last visit to Portugal and celebrated the way in which the Embraer-CEiiA partnership – which resulted in the modern CK-390 aircraft – proves that the two countries’ work together can be even greater from now on.

“When I was in Portugal for the last time as president, at the 10^th Cimeira (Summit), I witnessed the first steps of this partnership, with Embraer’s investments in the Portuguese aeronautics sector. The partnership bore many fruit, proving that – when there is hard work, dialogue and cooperation – planted seeds always bloom.”

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa followed suit.  “From an institutional point of view, these trade agreements translate the great existing potential and the institutions’ willingness to open doors for companies to make their way,” he said.  “I would like to thank all the Portuguese and Brazilian companies that are here for their willingness to meet, to get to know each other and to build projects together,” added Costa.

KC-390 – Concerning the design of the KC-390 aircraft, the largest ever built by Embraer, Portugal’s Center of Engineering and Product Development was responsible for developing two-thirds of the plane’s structure – which was later taken up by the Portuguese Air Force.  This was the most relevant engineering project to be jointly developed by Brazil and Portugal, and the result of 12 years of hard work and over 750,000 hours of engineering. 

Investments by Embraer in Portugal, in OGMA (Portuguese Aeronautics Industry/Indústria Aeronáutica de Portugal) and in two factories in the industrial park of Évora, have reached USD 500 million – generating around 2,500 direct jobs and 7 thousand indirect jobs, as well as technological cooperation in a strategic field. A contract between Embraer and the Portuguese government provides for the delivery of five KC-390 aircraft to the Portuguese Air Force: one a year, as of 2023, at the total cost of EUR 872 million.

“The Center of Engineering and Product Development eloquently represents the business cooperation that we want to promote through today’s meeting: a cooperation that is focused on the future, on technology, on renewable energy, urban mobility and health,” highlighted President Lula.

SUPER TUCANO – The Portuguese prime minister said that the two countries will again work together on an Embraer project, the Super Tucano, which will be adapted to NATO and European Union requirements and standards.

“The Center of Engineering and Product Development was at the core of the largest cooperative innovation and engineering project by Portugal and Brazil that resulted in the KC-390. We’re returning to Lisbon today in the very first KC-390 aircraft that Embraer has delivered to the Portuguese Air Force,” revealed António Costa.

After returning to Lisbon, Lula visited the facilities of the Portuguese Aeronautical Industry’s General Aeronautical Material Workshops (Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronáutico) and signed a contract for adaptation of the Super Tucano.

MERCOSUR – António Costa highlighted Portugal's willingness to work towards a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.  “We are all aware that the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur is strategic and will allow us better opportunities to increase trade relations in both directions. I have told President Lula that Brazil can always count on Portugal to lead the way towards this agreement as quickly as possible,” said the prime minister.

Last Saturday (22), during the signing of 13 bilateral agreements with Portugal, President Lula stated that he would make every effort – as reiterated in Argentina and Uruguay – to seal the trade agreement as soon as possible. “As far as I’m concerned, we will establish the European Union and Mercosur trade agreement. Small adjustments still have to be made, but we are capable of making them,” said Lula.

APEXBRASIL – At the beginning of the event, ApexBrasil and the Portuguese Investment and Trade Agency (Agência para o Investimento e Comércio de Portugal/Aicep) signed a memorandum of understanding to increase and diversify bilateral trade, highlighting support to small and medium-sized companies and startups; and to carry out joint actions that focus on the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa/CPLP).

ApexBrasil president Jorge Viana also emphasized that he will follow President Lula's guidelines and open an agency office in Portugal.  “The president instructed me to work towards establishing Apex’s presence in Portugal as soon as possible and working with the CPLP,” he said.

Jorge Viana also highlighted the importance of strengthening relations between Brazil and Portugal, mentioning trade flow figures that tend to increase from now on.  “During President Lula’s first two terms in office, Portugal’s trade flow with Brazil increased from almost USD 700 million to USD 2.7 billion. Exports from Portugal increased from USD 100 million to USD 1 billion,” he observed.

“This trade flow rose to USD 5.3 billion in 2022. There was growth – it’s a fact –, but it referred mostly to oil exportation, and not to manufacturing goods, which generate jobs on both sides. Our commitment is to bring back the period of prosperity that the relationship between the countries has already experienced,” said the president of ApexBrasil.

President Lula suggested an even more daring goal.  “When I first came to Portugal, I said that we could reach BRL 10 billion in trade flow. We can set the goal we want. In politics you have to have a project; you can’t govern according to the wind,” he stressed.

FORUM – The approximately 200 businesspersons who took part in the Portugal-Brazil Business Forum – half of them from Brazil and the other half from Portugal – will gather again today for a business seminar, networking rounds and technical visits.

The seminar, made up of four panels referring to the two countries’ main commercial interests – in fields such as energy transition, health, mobility and startups – will address the attraction of bilateral investments and discuss the potentials to be explored by Brazil and Portugal. The event was organized by Apex alongside Brazil’s Ministry of External Relations and Portuguese institutions.